Rise and Conquer
by NocheRastreador
Summary: Kurt, Evan, and Forge are new to Bayville, trying to move on with their 'mom' and forget their shady past. They make friends with the X-men, though they don't know they are mutants. Can they survive the chaos to Rise and Conquer? Kurtty RogueXOC JamieXOC
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! So, this is kinda like a prologue, though I wrote this after the first chapter, so sorry if this chapter sucks. It will get better! But anyway, here ya go. Read it.**

"…and the cell is the fundamental unit of life, and that all living things are composed of one or more cells or the secreted products of those cells, like shells. All cells arise from other cells through cell division. In multicellular organisms, every cell in the organism's body derives ultimately from a single cell in a fertilized egg. The cell is also considered-" Mr. Lopes beyond boring lecture was cut off when the door opened and a kid with dark bluish black hair stepped into the room. Scott had never seen him around before, so it was safe to assume he was a new kid. Mr. Lopes looked annoyed as the interruption approached him and handed him a slip.

"Ok class, it seems as though we have a new student. Go sit next to Scott over there." He ordered the boy before continuing on like he wasn't even there. The kid walked carefully over to Scott's table and sat down, scooting his chair over as far as possible. Scott sent him a smile, knowing how difficult it was to be the new kid, before turning back to the front of the class to continue on his notes. Biology was Scott's worst subject, and if he didn't pay attention, he knew that he was going to bomb the next test.

"So, for the rest of class, I want you all to get started on Lab 2.6 and finish the questions for homework." Mr. Lopes finished his speech, looking rather proud of himself, before going to sit in at his computer and play solitaire until class was over.

"So partner, you ready to do this?" Scott asked as he reached into the drawer at their table and pulled out the safety goggles, handing a set to the kid. The kid took them and put them on his face, chuckling quietly under his breath about something or other.

"Ja, as ready as I'll ever be. Vas do ve do first?" Scott tried to place the accent on this kid, but all he could tell was that he was from Europe somewhere. Shrugging it off, Scott explained what they had been learning about and what to do during the process of the Lab.

Scott learned many things over the course of the class. For one, the kid's name was Kurt Wagner. Also, he was from Germany, to which Scott smugly admitted that he had guessed he was from somewhere in Europe. Another thing, that was proving to be very comedic, was the fact that Kurt wasn't very good at English. Most of the conversation consisted of Kurt's eyes going blank once Scott started talking, seeing as he was using big biology terms that didn't even make sense to the foreigner.

"Vhy must Mr. Lopes use such big vords? In Germany, ve vould call zat wichtigtuerei." Kurt was trying, but he thought that this biology class might be a little too complex for him. Maybe if he could convince the school to get a German speaking teacher… the bell rang, interrupting his evil plans to kidnap Mr. Lopes and hide him in a cave somewhere.

"Don't worry about it; it's not that big a deal. And hey, at least you get me for a lab partner." Scott said as he began gathering his books and putting all the lab materials away. Kurt, seeing his friend, also started to gather up his things.

"It zat a good zing or a bad zing?" he teased as they both approached the door, making Scott laugh. Everyone within a 10 foot radius looked at him like he was nuts. Scott didn't laugh with anyone but his friends. Ever.

"Good thing. Hey, you should sit with us at lunch today, we'll wave you over." Kurt pushed his bangs out of his face and nodded.

"Sure dude, but vill there be enough room for mein brozzers too?" Scott looked surprised, wondering why he hadn't mentioned his brother's until now, but nodded and waved as he turned and walked the other way down the hallway toward his English class.

Principal Darkholme glared out the window of her office, the pencil in her hand snapping in half as her thoughts became more and more upsetting. He was here. Why was he here? Why did he and his _family_ have to come here? She could see him and his two _brothers_ walking up toward their first day of school almost two hours late, waving to the woman in the car before she took off for work. Mystique wanted to break her little neck.

He wouldn't be happy to learn that she was here, that much she was certain of. In all truth, she wasn't all that thrilled to see him either. He was just a symbol of her failure as a mother and her bad choices in the past.

"Mrs. Darkholme, the three new students are here to get checked in." The shrill voice of her secretary cut through the tension building in her office. Sighing, Raven pushed the button on her phone and told her to send them in.

There were a couple of tense seconds before the door opened to reveal three teenage boys. The first one through the door was robot boy, as Mystique liked to call him, followed by the porcupine kid. Lastly, her own flesh and blood. He looked different without his fur and tail, but a good different. The kind of different that wouldn't make him stand out in public, and all thanks to that little machine on his wrist. If Mystique was telling the truth, she hated that small device with a passion. It was the emblem of why Magneto needed to do the things he did. If humans could accept mutants for who they were, then Kurt would be able to walk freely down the street without fear of being persecuted. Instead, he had to hide behind a mask of who he really was, and it made her sick to her stomach.

Kurt looked around the office as he closed the oak door behind him, careful not to pinch his tail. It was pretty boring, bland, and resembled what Kurt thought a normal principal's office should look like. The woman sitting behind the desk looked absolutely crazy, though Kurt would never say something like that out loud. She looked ready to kill or severely hurt some poor student that dare cross her path and hand out cookies at the same time. It was an odd mix of emotions and Kurt thought that they made her look like she really needed to go to the bathroom.

Forge plopped down into one of the seats, watching as Evan and Kurt did the same, and attempted to relax. It was proving to be difficult, knowing that they were all nervous about starting their first day of school. For Kurt, this was his first day _ever_. He had never been able to go to school before Forge had invented his holowatch, so today was going to prove to be interesting.

Inhaling to take a deep sigh and calm himself, Kurt found himself growling instinctively at the woman sitting before them. Forge and Evan gave him looks that obviously said 'cut-it-out' but he couldn't stop it. Kurt would know that scent anywhere.

"Mom."


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey guys, over here!" Scott hollered across the cafeteria to three unfamiliar students that no one recognized. They started to approach their table and Kitty, Jean, Rogue and Bobby looked at them curiously before directing their attention toward Scott.

"Guys, this is Kurt, my lab partner." Scott introduced when they finally reached the table. Jean was the first to speak.

"Welcome to Bayville, I'm Jean." She held out her hand to shake, but Kurt didn't make any move to extend his arm. Instead, The African American boy who was standing to the right grasped her hand and shook it firmly.

"You must excuse Kurt, he doesn't shake hands. I'm Evan." She looked at Kurt strangely, but decided against diving into his mind to see what was going on. She didn't have the right, and for all she knew, he could just be one of those people with a germ phobia or something.

"Nice to meet you Evan. You already know that I'm Jean, and that's Scott. This is Kitty, Rogue and Bobby. We all live at the same boarding house." Jean shrugged at the term.

"We live in a boarding house too. That's so groovy, man. What a coincidence." there was another dark skinned man that Kitty had all but forgotten was there. She was too busy practically drooling over Kurt, who had yet to speak a single word. "I'm Dave, but just call me Forge." Kurt rolled his eyes at his brother.

"So, can ve sit, or do you vant us to stand here den ganzen Tag?" Kurt teased lightly. Forge laughed at everyone's expression before putting a hand on his adoptive brother's shoulder.

"Dude, you need to learn English." He laughed as Kurt shrugged his hand off his shoulder.

"Ja, I know." He replied half-seriously. They all took their seats at the table, Forge in-between Scott and Kurt, Evan in-between Rogue and Kurt. Kitty looked across at them and wondered why they were giving Kurt so much room. Evan was practically on top of Rogue, who was trying desperately not to touch him, and Forge was sitting uncomfortably close to Scott, who was subtly scooting farther away.

"So what classes do you guys have after this?" Kitty asked, putting her silent question in the back of her mind.

"German." Kurt said happily. "At least I know I vill pass ein klasse. English, not so much. Tell me, vhy is your language so confuzzing?"

"At least it doesn't sound like we're about to cough up a luggie every time we speak." Evan teased.

"Ja, laugh it up arschloch."

"Somehow, I don't think that was a compliment." Bobby laughed, soon followed by the others. Evan grumbled about immigration under his breath, making everyone laugh louder.

"Kurt! Watch what you're doing!" Evan exclaimed suddenly, looking wide eyed over at Kurt. Kurt looked at him confused for a moment before smiling sheepishly and shifting in his seat.

"Sorry, it has a mind of its own?" Kurt's voice rose at the end in question. Scott and Jean looked at each other. what was going on?

"A mind of its own? How can it have a mind of its own when its-"

"Guys!" Forge yelled at them, interrupting the budding argument. They both looked at the rest of the table then, almost like they had forgotten they were there.

"Oh, um, right. we'll talk about this later." Evan gave Kurt a look before they both picked up the previous conversation again, as if nothing had happened.

"German is better, girls love the accent. Chicks just can't resist the fuz-"

"Kurt!" both of his adoptive brothers shouted at him once again. Kitty was looking at him strangely now. she was almost positive he was about to say fuzzy.

"Das ist zu schwierig. Warum kann ich nicht zurück in den Zirkus gehen?" Kurt grumbled under his breath. Rogue didn't know much German, but she was fairly certain he said something about a circus.

"So, what other classes do you guys have?" Kitty asked, trying to get away from the awkward silence that was beginning to form.

"Advanced computer science and robotics." Forge said while piling pizza into his mouth almost as fast as Kurt was.

"How old are you?" Scott asked, somewhat amazed. that class was extremely difficult and usually reserved for seniors only.

"Well, I'm 15, but I'm assuming you are wondering what grade I'm in. class of 2010 baby!" he yelled the last part happily, throwing his hands in the air with excitement.

"How are you one year ahead of me when you're only 15?" Jean asked, thoroughly confused.

"Ja, tell me about it. Forge ez vhat people in Germany vould call a Genialität." Kurt rolled his eyes before shoving a full piece of pizza into his mouth.

"Translation?" Rogue asked, somewhat annoyed.

"Um, I don't actually know ze English vord... sorry." Kurt rubbed the back of his neck, somewhat embarrassed for his lack of knowledge. There was definitely no way he was going to pass English.

"Genius?" Kitty guessed randomly. she felt bad for him, having to learn a whole new language. she couldn't imagine going over to some foreign country and trying to learn their language.

"Ja, genius." Kurt repeated, burning the word into his memory so he wouldn't forget it next time.

"Evan, are you okay?" Bobby asked when he saw the other man scratch his arm subconsciously for the fourth time in a minute.

"What? oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just a bug bite." Evan shrugged, trying to avoid the looks that Forge and Kurt were sending him.

"I don't see-" Rogue's observation was cut off by the ringing that signaled the end of lunch. saved by the bell, Evan thought with a chuckle as he stood up to head off to gym. Forge headed toward the science wing of the school with a wave toward Kurt and their newly made friends. Kurt stood more slowly, taking him time to stand up and waiting until most everyone had cleared the cafeteria before leaving. Jean and Scott shared another look at his strange behavior.

"Is there something off about them?" Scott asked as they made their way down the hall to their mutual English class.

"besides the fact that one of them can barely speak English and another is a super genius?" Jean teased.

"You know what I mean. What about the fact that Evan was yelling at Kurt to control himself when he wasn't doing anything? What exactly has a mind of its own that Kurt needs to worry about?" Jean shrugged her shoulder at him but didn't seem too concerned.

"I don't think it was anything to worry about Scott. How long have we known them? Five minutes? We have no clue what they could have been talking about." Scott sighed and decided to let her win for now as they entered the class.

_Meanwhile..._

"Kätzchen!" Kitty heard Kurt's voice behind her. She continued walking, wondering what he had said, when he yelled it again. She turned, and saw him jogging lightly to catch up to her. Was he talking to her? Kitty stood there for a couple of moments, just trying to figure out what was going on, giving Kurt time to reach her.

"Danke Kätzchen, I seem to be lost. Would you oh so kindly point me in the direction of the Language wing?" Kurt was concerned when Kitty didn't respond, just standing there staring at him.

"Vhat?" He asked, somewhat afraid. Could she see through the hologram? Forge said it would be impossible for anyone to see him. Then why was she just staring at him?

"What did you call me?" he almost let out a sigh of relief, before realizing that would look rather odd. Then, thinking about her question, he ducked his head down in embarrassment.

"Oh, um, it's Kitten in German. Sorry if it made you uncomfortable, I don't really have English down yet." He rubbed the back of his neck, something Kitty observed to be a habit when he was nervous, and lifted his eyes briefly to meet her gaze.

"Don't worry, it's nice." She was trying not to blush, she really was, but her body doesn't like to cooperate very well. If it wasn't his body that made her spontaneously combust, it would be that accent.

"Good. Good." His face would have split in half if he was grinning any wider. They just stood there for a moment, staring at each other. The loud ringing of the warning bell interrupted their trance, both of them looking away somewhat embarrassed.

"So, um, Language wing?" Kurt said awkwardly, trying to figure out what just happened.

"What? Oh -um- yeah. Right, language wing. Um, like, take a left when you go up the main stairs from the lobby and just go straight um..." And then she giggled. God, why was she so stupid? She felt like banging her head on the wall, repeatedly. _This is why you can't get a boyfriend_, she thought sourly.

"Lebewohl Kätzchen." He said before turning and walking in the other direction. Kitty watched him walk until he was out of sight, doing a cliché girl-hopelessly-crushing-on-guy sigh and floating toward her Algebra 2 class.

"You wanted to see me Professor?" Jean asked as she entered the Professor's office. As soon as the team had arrived home, he had sent her a mental message to speak with him privately after dinner.

"Yes Jean. It seems as though there are new mutants in the area." He turned so he could look at her, intertwining his fingers and setting them calmly on his lap.

"How many are there?" Jean was curious as to why the Professor had not invited Scott to this meeting as well. They usually handled these things together, as a united front of representation for the X-men.

"Well, that's the problem. For some reason, I cannot get a lock on them. As soon as I begin to get a lock on their minds, the trace goes cold. I don't know how many there are or who they are." Jean gave the Professor a look of realization. This was a real threat if they didn't know who to watch out for.

"That's right Jean. So, to avoid the paranoia of the team, I would like this matter to stay between us. I just want you to keep a look out at school for anyone showing any… inhuman characteristics." She nodded, more to herself than the professor, already thinking of the entire student body.

"Is that all, Professor?" Jean asked, already on her way to the door. The professor was silent for a moment before chuckling quietly. She turned to him, eyebrow raised in question.

"Maybe you could go help Kitty; she seems to be having boy troubles." Jean giggled to herself and nodded once again.

"Sure thing Professor." The professor didn't hear her though, already turned back to Cerebro to try once again to find the mysterious mutants that seemed to be avoiding his detection.

"Knock knock." Jean said, entering the room that Kitty and Rogue shared.

"Thank Gahd, ah don't think ah could tahke much more of this. Kurt this, Kurt that, Kurt, Kurt, Kurt!" Rogue growled, pushing past Jean and into the hallway with a werewolf book in hand. Jean turned toward the room now, giving Kitty a look.

"I know." Kitty moaned, though it was hardly legible with her face stuffed into her pillow. "I can't help myself!" Jean laughed, coming to sit on the end of her bed.

"Crushing on Kurt?" she asked as Kitty sat up to meet her gaze.

"What gave me away?" Kitty asked sarcastically, pointing to the hallway where Rogue was still cursing. Jean sighed once they had finished laughing and leaned back on Kitty's bed so she was lying down.

"You should totally go for it." Kitty sighed as well, leaning down to copy Jean's position.

"Really? But what if he doesn't like me that way and I make, like, a total fool out of myself?" she groaned and flipped over, putting her face back into her pillow.

"From what I can tell, He's already given you a pet name. The next step is relationship, right?" She heard Kitty sigh into her pillow and mutter something she couldn't quite catch.

"See you tomorrow," Jean started saying before pausing, a slow smirk crawling across her face. "Kätzchen." Jean laughed and ran away to avoid the pillow that Kitty had thrown in her direction.


	3. Chapter 3

"Kitty! Are you done in there yet?" Jean shouted at the closed door, slightly irritated at the length of time Kitty was taking to brush her hair.

"I'm almost done, give me one more minute!" Jean could hear the long line of girls behind her grumbling and muttering under their breaths. Some were more vocal than others.

"What could ya possibly be doing in there? You've been in there for ahn hour!" Rogue snarled at the door venomously. There was no response except the door opening to reveal a normal looking Kitty.

"I'm done now, happy?" There was a chorus of 'yes' from the mob of girls filling the hallway and Kitty blushed despite herself.

"Kitty," Jean said, pulling the younger girl aside to let a very unimpressed Rogue into the bathroom. "Kurt already likes you the way you are. You don't need to change yourself just because of some boy." Kitty sighed, leaning against the wall for support.

"I know, I know. You should have seen me in there. I tried on at least 20 different outfits and, like, 30 different hairstyles until I realized how stupid I was being. I mean, why should I let some guy have power over me like that?" Jean laughed.

"It happens to the best of us. Go grab your stuff so we can head to school." Kitty nodded happily before sinking down into the floor and disappearing.

_Meanwhile…_

"Kurt, stop hogging all the pancakes!"

"Evan, did you remember to grab more milk yesterday?"

"Kurt, get off the new chandelier. You already broke the last one."

"Hey! That was my only clean shirt!"

"Ow! Get off mein tail!"

"Forge, put your mechanical arm away at the breakfast table!"

"Kurt! Seriously, save food for the rest of us!"

"Boys!"

"Evan! I just tripped on your skateboard!"

"In case you haven't noticed, ze tail is attached to mein body!"

"Where's the milk?"

"Vhere did you leave mein inducer?"

"Kurt ate all the bacon!"

"Don't you hiss at me young man."

"Forge! You did that on purpose!"

"Guys, tail!"

"Now I have to go and get a dirty shirt!"

"Vhere is mein backpack?"

"Seriously, Milk?"

"We know that your tail is sensitive _Mistress Wagner_."

"Kurt, stop growling at the table."

And so, it was a normal morning in Ororo's kitchen. On most days she swore it would take 100 teenage girls to complain as much as those three did, but on rare occasions like today, even that didn't seem like enough. How was it that they could summon this much energy to form chaos so early in the morning? She was in need of Advil. Lots and lots of Advil.

!#$%^&^%$#!#$%^%$#!

"Guys, wait up!" Scott turned to see Forge, Evan and Kurt coming down the crowded hallway. He motioned for the others to stop and let them catch up.

"Hey partner, ready to dissect some beautiful frogs?" Kurt nodded, whispering something in Kitty's ear that made her burst out laughing. When Scott gave him a look he just shrugged.

"Don't worry about it, I'm safer with you not knowing." Scott glared at him playfully as Kurt smirked at him.

"He said it would be the only girl you could get inside of." Kitty broke down in another fit of giggles.

"Käzchen!" Kurt yelped as Scott began to chase him around the small circle they had formed.

"Get back here you foreign freak!" Scott yelled teasingly as he continued to try and catch Kurt, a task that was proving to be most difficult. Kurt was all over the place, moving his body in some ways that didn't seem physically possible.

After awhile, Scott finally gave up, resting his hands on his knees and taking deep breaths. Kurt didn't even look winded, just grinning at Scott from where he had hidden behind Rogue.

"Ja, should I have mentioned that I am an acrobat? Extreme agility power!" He then proceeded to flex his muscles stereotypically and kiss them. They all looked at him like he was nuts, besides Evan and Forge, who of course had prior knowledge of this fact.

"Like, in the circus?" Kitty asked, somewhat shocked.

"Ya, not even as a backup acrobat. he was the main event, the big attraction, the man-with-the-plan, the star, the mega-ultra-cool-spectacular-" Evan's ranting was cut off when Kurt slapped him upside the head.

"Not that big of a deal." He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Not a big deal? Dude, you were _in _the _circus_! That's totally amazing! When did you run off and join the circus?" Bobby laughed at his own joke, ignoring the fact that no one else found it remotely humorous.

"Well, run off and join the circus wouldn't be the best words. He _grew up_ in the circus. Wasn't you mom the fortune teller?" everyone turned to look at Kurt after Forge had finished speaking.

"Um… ja, Mama was ze fortune teller and Papa vas anozzer acrobat. Didn't leave the circus until I was 14." He smiled proudly as he thought about his life at the circus. Kitty was sure she had lost all brain function whatsoever. Could he get any better? No, such a thing was physically impossible.

"Enough about mein glory days, ze bell rung two minutes ago. I have to go to mein erster klasse." With a wave he was already halfway down the hallway. Jumping out of her Kurt-induced-trace, Kitty regained her ability to speak.

"Ya, I gotta head to Earth Science, wish me luck?" she said, turning as she grabbed her books from her locker.

"Luck!" Evan called as he walked away toward whatever class he had next. The rest of the group dispersed in almost synchronization, headed to the various classes that would most likely bore them to death.

!#$%^&^%$#!#$%^%$#!#$%^

"Hey Kurt." Kitty said shyly, shuffling up to the German who was currently attacking his locker in a futile attempt at getting it to open. He turned to her and smiled slightly, though it didn't reach his eyes the way that she liked.

"Hallo Kätzchen." He mumbled, punching his locker. She frowned momentarily at his change of mood from earlier. _Maybe now isn't the best time to ask_, Kitty thought, already chickening out. He wouldn't say yes when he was in a bad mood, right? Best to wait for another time.

"Locker stuck?" she asked with a small grin that lit up her face.

"Nope, it looked at me funny so I decided it needed to be taught a lesson. " He grinned at her for a moment before he turned on the puppy eyes. "Care to help an Americanly challenged immigrant vith ze locker of death?" She cracked up laughing, still managing to nod and push him out of the way.

"What's your combination?" he hesitated for a moment, giving her a dirty look.

"Trying to break into mein locker, ja?" She rolled her eyes at him before putting her ear against the locker, fully intent on putting on a show for him. Kitty pretended to listen as she turned the dial in one direction and quickly changed to the other direction. Phasing just the tip of her fingers so he couldn't see, she reached through the dial and opened the lock. The door swung open with a loud creak and Kitty gave Kurt a triumphant smile.

"Mein gott, how did you do that?" His jaw was practically touching the ground as he continued to look from her, to the locker, then back again.

"I have a few tricks up my sleeve." She said smugly, giving him a pat on the head before basically skipping down the hallway. Kurt could only stare after her and laugh.

!#$%^&^%$#!#$%^&^%$#!#$%^

"… And the structure of a robot is usually mostly mechanical and can be called a kinematic chain, which have a functionality being similar to the skeleton of the human body. The chain is formed of links, like bones, actuators, its muscles, and joints which can allow one or more degrees of freedom. Most contemporary robots use open serial chains to-" Forge was full on ranting now. All Scott had asked was how his day had been. He was about two seconds away from banging his head on the table.

"… Speaking of that, they found that a recent alternative to DC motors are piezo motors or ultrasonic motors, which, like, use piezoceramic elements that are convulsing at over 1000 times a minute and-" Scott looked down at the table once again. Totally an option.

"… And, like, the Zero Moment Point, also known as ZMP, is the algorithm used by robots such as Honda's ASIMO. The robot's onboard computer tries to keep the total inertial forces, which is the combination of earth's gravity and the acceleration and deceleration of walking, exactly opposed by the floor reaction force, the force of the floor pushing back on the robot's foot. In theory-"

That was how Kurt found them. Forge going on and on with big words that Kurt didn't even know existed, and Scott, who was quite happily banging his head against the lunch table.

"Hey Forge, I thought I vas ze one zat needed to learn English." He teased putting down his tray and bringing up his invisible tail to smack his brother in the head.

"Ow, hey man! Uncalled for." He grumbled, rubbing the back of his head.

"Thank You!" Scott mouthed to Kurt, who just sent him a knowing glance as he put one piece of pizza on top of another and shoved the whole thing into his mouth.

"Dude, how can you eat so much?" Scott asked, wrinkling his nose with a slightly disturbed expression on his face.

"Hoch Stoffwechsel." Scott felt a little guilty that he couldn't tell if Kurt was talking in German or with his mouth full.

"Um, what? I didn't catch that last part." Kurt rolled his eyes and held up two fingers, signaling for them to wait until he finished swallowing. Scott looked at Kurt's hand curiously, wondering if he had some birth defect where his ring finger and middle finger were slightly farther apart than the rest of his fingers.

"I said Hoch stoffwechsel." Kurt said, breaking Scott out of his reverie.

"And that means… what exactly?" Forge asked, stealing a fry from Kurt's plate. Kurt scowled at him and grabbed the cookie from his brother's tray before putting on a deep look of concentration.

"Um… high… um…" Kurt's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, making the two other boys burst out laughing at his expense.

"High processing?" Kurt stated, a little uneasy with the word. This just made the boys laugh louder. Kurt huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, giving them a look until they had quieted down.

"Serious, if I said it once I vill say it again, I vill never pass English." This brought on a whole new round of laughter, one that Kurt joined in on as well, just as everyone was walking up.

"Are they on crack?" Jean whispered in Kitty's ear, still a little shocked at seeing Scott laugh.

"It wouldn't surprise me. I bet Kurt brought over some stuff from Germany. Who knows what kind of crap they grow there?" the two girls giggled before taking their seats, ready to hear what everyone was going on about.

#$%^&^%$!#$%^&^%$#!

"Have you located them yet?" a tall figure asked from the doorway. The female voice drifted over to the man with the long cloak sitting next to a large computer.

"Not yet, it seems as though Ororo has covered her tracks well this time." He didn't sound disappointed with this revelation. The woman was shocked to hear that he actually sounded quite _proud_ of the little brats.

"It seems as though they have learned from their past mistakes." The man continued thoughtfully, glancing up at his large computer screen with wonder.

"They shouldn't have escaped the first time." The woman growled quietly. Sometimes, Master didn't take things as seriously as he should. _Especially_ when it came to those four mutants. Ororo had wronged her; she wanted the storm goddess's blood on her hands.

"Patience, my child. Their escape showed us that we were not ready to begin our project yet, that there were still holes in our armor, and every time we catch them, we come a little bit closer to perfection." The woman smiled at his encouraging words, nodded her head in appreciation before disappearing out into the dark hallway behind her.

"Where are you Kurt? Ororo? Evan? Dearest Forge? Perhaps all of your escapes have taught you too well. But, do not fret my children; the next time you are captured will surely be your last." The man smiled, his short speech to himself seeming to be adequate closure for now. Shutting down the computer, he left the room to go and get a good night's rest. He had hunting to do in the morning.

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**AN: Please note that I don't mean any offense to German's with that comment about what crap they grown there… just Kitty and Jean making fun of Kurt. Also, I totally copied and pasted from Wikipedia for all the robot stuff sooo… ya that wasn't me haha. I wouldn't know a computer if it bit me on the nose :) **

**P.S. – Kurt is attempting to say High Metabolism when the language barrier cuts him off…**

**P.S.S - I forgot a decimator soooo… I, FuzzyGirlWonder, do not and never will own X-men Evolution or any writing on Wikipedia… yup :) **


	4. Chapter 4

"_Late last night, while Bayville was sleeping peacefully, the Rammingford National Bank's vault was broken into by four masked men. Strangely enough, they were found unconscious outside the bank early this morning, handcuffed to the front columns .We didn't get a direct statement from the police, but an inside source has provided us with the fallowing images from the Rammingford's security camera."_

The television screen was filled with pictures of the interior of the bank. There were strange spikes sticking from the walls and ceiling, holes in the walls created by lasers of some sort, and it seemed as though every chandelier in the place had been dropped to the ground and smashed.

"_It is unknown as to who the wanna-be super heroes are, but the police are trying to track them down in order for them to pay for the obvious damage caused to the bank establishment. In other news-_"

Jean turned off the TV, walking calmly through the crowded hallways until she reached her destination.

"Professor?" she asked timidly, knocking on the door twice before entering. She found him sitting in his favorite spot, in front of the large window, and looking out of it in deep thought.

_Yes, I saw the news_. He sent to her without turning from his position. She nodded her head, more at herself than anyone else. Jean should have known that the Professor already knew. He knew everything.

"Not everything, my dear. But, I know how to except a compliment when given one." She saw his arm move as he twirled the small dial on his wheelchair, making it possible for him to turn and face her.

"Is it the new mutants?" Charles sighed but nodded, putting his head into his hands briefly before swiveling his chair to face the wall in which Cerebro was located.

"And I'm still having trouble getting a lock on them. I have a theory about that though; one of them may be a teleporter. It would move the group from place to place so quickly, that Cerebro couldn't detect the transfer of conscience until they were already gone." The professor looked deep in thought for a moment before shaking his head as if to clear it. "Have you noticed anyone at school?"

Jean sighed. She had tried to look at everyone at the school, examine every little twitch of their mind, and yet she had still come up with nothing. She, of course, hadn't searched anyone on the team's mind, as well as the new arrivals Kurt, Evan and Forge. It seemed a little strange that she didn't search their new companion's minds, but Jean hadn't really thought that was necessary. If they were mutants, surely the team would have picked up on the signs by now. Jean sighed again, realizing that it was foolish of her to leave them out of her search. She needed to be thorough; this was, after all, her first solo assignment since joining the X-men. Proving herself was just one part of this mission.

"See to it then." The Professor said with a happy smile on his face, one that he didn't show very often. Jean nodded at him, leaving him alone with his thoughts once again.

_Meanwhile…_

"Stop moving! You're going to make it worse!" Ororo commanded down at her middle child. Kurt calmed down, taking deep breaths, and tried _really_ hard not to think about what his foster mother was doing.

Somehow, Forge's laser had hit _him_ on the back, leaving a burn the size of New England. Ororo was in the process of applying a cream, which felt good in some ways and bad in others. Let's just say that Kurt was in a lot of pain.

"Ow!"

Kurt couldn't help it; he had animalistic traits engrained with his human DNA. He started growling, quite loudly, and snapping his fangs together in an attempt to stop the pain his adoptive mother was causing. It was when he started hissing and backing away on all fours that Ororo smacked him upside the head with a newspaper that had been sitting idle on the coffee table.

"Stop it; I will not stand to be hissed at. You aren't some wild animal." Kurt groaned, coming back to his senses, and got back on the couch where Ororo was waiting not-so-patiently.

"Sorry." He mumbled, embarrassed. Ororo just smiled at him, squeezing the rest of the tube into her palm and continuing her tending of his wounds.

"Hey, so I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the fuzzy elf will not be accompanying us at school today?" Evan said from his spot at the doorway. Kurt growled again, but more at the nickname than the current torture his back was going through.

"You will actually be going to school alone, Mr. Monroe." Ororo stated, helping Kurt back into his shirt so it wouldn't touch his back.

"What about Forge?" Evan whined. Why did everyone get to skip school except for him?

"Yeah, what about me?" Forge was on the verge on whining too, which was unusual for him. Usually Ororo could count on him to be the least headache-evoking out of the three.

"Firstly, Kurt needs someone to be his personal slave while I am at work, and since Forge decided it would be a good idea to shoot him in the back, he will have to take care of him." Forge groaned and plopped down on the couch next to her.

"But, today we were going to be learning about environmental interaction and navigation in robotics!" Ororo rolled her eyes at him in almost synchronization with Evan. "He will be healed by the end of today anyway!" Forge stated, trying a new strategy.

"Well, maybe this will be some incentive to work on your aim." Evan and Kurt stated laughing while Forge literally pouted and crossed his arms like a scorned child.

"That is, like, so totally not fair!" He grumbled under his breath so that Evan and Ororo couldn't hear him. Unfortunately for him, Kurt's sensitive hearing picked it up and he grinned down at his younger brother.

"Life's not fair, Brozzer dear. But hey, you get to spend ze day vith me!" Forge groaned, letting his head fall against the back of the couch.

"Later losers!" Evan called, already half way down the stairs.

"Bye boys! Get better Kurt!" Ororo called as she made her way toward the front door. The last thing she heard was Forge.

"Take me with you!" followed by a round of evil laughter from Kurt. Shaking her head at the boy's antics, Ororo ignored his pleas and hopped into the car, Evan chuckling quietly in the backseat at his brother's expense. A day at school didn't seem so bad when a day alone with Kurt was the only alternative.

"Look out!" Scott turned, looking for the owner of the shouting voice, only to be toppled over by some idiot on a skateboard.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" He grumbled, just happy that his glasses hadn't fallen off his face during the crash.

"Yo, man, I'm sorry. Didn't you hear me scream?" Scott smiled when he realized the idiot on the skateboard was Evan, which wasn't too surprising considering that Evan was mostly an idiot all the time anyway.

"Yeah, it's all good. I should have taken the warning a little bit more seriously. Where are you rushing off to?" Evan picked up his skateboard and unbuckled the helmet under his chin.

"Office, have to give them notes for Forge and Kurt." Scott suddenly realized the absence of Evan's brothers. Usually, the three were pretty joined at the hip, but now they weren't anywhere in sight.

"Where are they?" he noticed how Evan was trying to stop himself from smirking.

"Uh, sick. Well, not Forge. He got the lucky job of dealing with a sick Kurt for day. Trust me, Kurt may look tough on the outside, but one little bruise and he complains about it for days. I swear, he's a bigger chick than Auntie O." They laughed, now walking slowly side-by-side to the office.

"How come Forge got stuck with him?" Evan shrugged, spinning the wheel of his board absentmindedly.

"We take turns, usually." Scott had been instructed by Logan himself how to sniff out a lie. And while it seemed like a good enough excuse, it was definitely a lie. All the tell tale signs were there. Stiff facial features, fingers twitching, elongated stepping pattern, lack of eye contact, the list went on and on. People had their reasons to lie, though. Maybe it was embarrassing or they just didn't feel like explaining the whole story. Scott let it go without a second thought.

"Kitty will be disappointed." Evan gave him a curious glance.

"Why?" Scott gave him a look that said 'Duh'. Evan shot back a look that said 'I-have-no-idea-what-you're-talking-about'.

"Kitty and Kurt. You seriously haven't noticed? She's like, in love with him."

Scott would have expected Evan to be happy for his brother, maybe help him make a plan of how to get them together. What he did expect was the opposite of what he got. Evan looked horrified at the idea, then proceeded to freak out.

"Crap, this isn't good, this isn't good!" he mumbled frantically, running his hands through his hair and letting out a huff of air.

"Dude, calm down. It's just Kitty, definitely not some weird stalker chick. No need to start flipping out." His words fell on deaf ears as Evan continued to mumble to himself illegibly.

"Are you just jealous that Kurt can get a girl faster than you can?" Scott joked, attempting to lighten the melancholy cloud that seemed to be inclosing them. Evan didn't even take notice to the jab at his ego, just rushing down the hall before Scott could get another word in edgewise.

"Scott we need to talk." Jean said calmly as she came up behind Scott. Before her interruption, he had been joking around with Bobby and a relatively calm Evan. Standing as he ignored the coughs of 'whipped', Scott followed Jean silently until they were outside.

"What's going on?" he asked, almost startled by the extremely serious look on her face. It had been awhile since they had any serious X-men problems; he was used to seeing the relieving calm on everyone's faces.

"Is Evan okay? His mind is all over the place; something about a conversation you had earlier." She narrowed her eyes at him in accusation. "What did you say to him?" Scott took a step back, his hands raised in surrender.

"Chill, I just told him how much Kitty liked Kurt. He was the one that started mumbling a mile a minute and ran off like someone was chasing him with a chainsaw." He tilted his head to the left, looking at her curiously. "Why were you looking in his mind anyway?"

"I can't help but overhear his thoughts when he is basically screaming them." Lie. After all, Scott was trained by the best. He knew a lie when he saw one. But, for the sake of keeping his head on his shoulders, Scott let it go.

"What is the big emergency then?" he was a little confused about how serious this conversation had been. After all, Scott telling Evan about Kitty's feelings wasn't that big of a deal, right? Jean paused for a moment, seeming to be deep in thought, before shaking her head.

"Never mind, it's not important now." She shoved past him gracefully and rounded the corner, leaving Scott alone in the front lawn.

What was with everyone ditching him in the middle of conversations today?

"Hallo?" Kurt answered the phone with a whisper, looking frantically over the couch that he and Forge were hiding behind. They hadn't seen the robot in 10 minutes, which was anything but good.

This was how Kurt and Forge's day had been. After 5 hours, all of Kurt's wounds had completely healed, thanks to his fast cell regeneration, and the pair had gotten golf-watching bored. Literally, they had spent half an hour watching golf on TV before they realized that they were actually watching golf. They didn't have to go to school, and they were wasting it by watching bad TV? So, with the use of Forge's mechanical arm, they created a robot out of the blender and toaster. They had named it Paul and it was even equipped with a small laser. That was their first mistake. When activated, the robot proceeded to attack them, chasing them around the house for a good two hours and destroying _everything_. They had last seen the robot as it chased them up the stairs to the attic and Kurt teleported them to behind the large antique couch that Ororo had bought at a garage sale. Kurt was almost afraid to look out and see if it was coming. What if it was there, laser ready and waiting with an evil smile on its face? Kurt was fully aware that he may have acquired a phobia of robots. Forge was much better off than his brother; using his mutation to mess with the television remote in a way that Kurt didn't understand half of what was going on. Apparently, it was supposed to turn off the robot as soon as he finished the modifications.

"Kurt? Why are you whispering?" Evan's voice drifted through the phone.

"No time to explain, what's up?" He whispered even softer than before, once again searching the living room for any sign of their unwanted guest.

"I need you to port here and pick me up, Auntie O forgot to get me a ride." Kurt gulped. Teleporting to school meant that he had to be wearing his inducer. The inducer that was sitting upstairs in his room. The room that was located just next to the attic stairs. So not happening.

"I can't, me and Forge are a little busy right now…" He trailed off, peaking over the couch once again. Kurt screamed as he saw the robot standing on the couch, laser trained on him, with an almost mechanical smile on its face.

"FORGE!" Evan could hear Kurt screaming frantically as the sound of him and Forge running up the stairs came through the phone.

"The remotes not working!" Forge replied desperately, his voice raising several octaves until he was screaming like an eight year old girl watching a horror flick. The phone was dropped to the floor and the sound of his brother's footsteps and screams grew quieter and quieter as they fled. It was completely silent for a moment before some strange robotic sound started entering the phone. It grew louder as the thing approached.

"Hello? Hello?" Evan asked into the phone, slightly confused about what was going on. There was something that sounded like a laser charging before the phone went dead.

"What the hell did you guys get yourselves into?" He grumbled, snapping his cell phone closed as he started on his two mile walk home.


	5. Chapter 5

The boys all left for school early the next morning, wanting to escape the lingering rage of their foster mother. She was one unhappy mama.

Long story short, the robot was defeated with a shot of pure electricity from a strategically placed lightning bolt after chasing the three boys around the house for another two hours until Ororo arrived home. They had buried him in the backyard, having a small ceremony in remembrance of Paul's short lived life. That was before Ororo when psycho.

The robot had literally destroyed something in every room in the house. The refrigerator, the loveseat, the dining room wall, a post on the staircase, Kurt's window, Evan's door, her own dresser, Forge's bed… let's just say that it didn't go down well in the Monroe household.

Mama Monroe had demanded that everything be fixed by the time she woke up in the morning, something that the brothers had better do if they wanted to live another day. It had been quite easy actually, considering all the damage that was done. After all, they were mutants. What couldn't they do?

"Listen dude, we've gotta talk." Evan said to Kurt, pulling him to sit down on one of the benches outside the school. Kurt complied, seeming a bit confused at what his brother would need to talk with him about.

"Vas up?" Forge leaned against the backside of the bench, looking at the different people that were walking by the school. None of the students had arrived yet, seeing as it was way too early to be at school, so they pretty much had the place to themselves.

"It's about Kitty, Scott says she has a major crush on you." Kurt's face lit up like it was Christmas morning.

"Really! That is so-... oh." Kurt finally realized what Evan was trying to tell him. His face fell and he started fiddling with his invisible tail.

"Yeah, 'oh'. Try to let her down gentle, kay? We want to keep the only friends we have here." Kurt nodded, resting his elbows on his knees and tucking his long hair behind an invisible elf ear.

"Ja, I vill. Verdammt, ich mochte sie wirklich zu." He muttered to himself as he heard Evan and Forge walk into the school, giving him some time to hate himself in peace. Why did he have to look like such an evil creature? All his life, his appearance has prevented him from doing the things he wanted to do. Going to school, having friends, living a normal life. Now, with the image inducer Forge had made for him, he could do all of these things. Kurt only wished that it would completely destroy his true image, not just cover it up. Then he would be able to get close to someone, give them a hug, or even a handshake. He wanted to be able to go out with Kitty, he really liked her, but she didn't like him. She liked the fake him, the one that everyone else saw. he could never be that person. Kurt realized this meant he had to tell her they could only be friends. What a lovely conversation that was going to be.

!#$%^&^%$#!#$%^&^%#!#$%^&^%$#!#$

Kitty had been working up the nerve all morning. Jean and Rogue had both given her a pep talk. She could do it; she was a strong, independent woman who knew what she wanted. She wouldn't back down again. Let operation Kurt begin.

Target located. Kurt was standing next to Scott and Evan, laughing about something, and Kitty couldn't help but admire how beautiful he was. it was strange, usually she would never call a guy beautiful; it was hot, or handsome. usually beauty was something associated with feminism, but it seemed to match Kurt perfectly.

Initiate missiles, lock and fire. Rogue walked up, grabbing Evan's arm with her gloved hand and demanding that he show her some of the amazing skateboarding moves she had heard about. Jean quickly followed behind her, telling Scott that she needed to talk to him about her relationship with Duncan. Scott would do anything for Jean; even listen to her ramble about her boyfriend. The dude was totally whipped.

Engage. Kitty walked up to a confused looking Kurt, who was probably wondering why he had been abandoned by his friends. It was now or never, the big moment. She took a deep breath, counting her steps as she made the way over to him.

5...6...7...8...

"Guten morgen Keety." She frowned slightly at his greeting. What happened to Katzchen? she had to admit, it made her stomach do flips when he called her by the German name. Shaking her head, she realized she was losing her focus on the mission. She needed to stay on task.

"Hey Kurt, listen I was wondering if you would like-"

"Um Keety, I vas vondering if I could tell you something." She felt her eyebrows draw together in confusion when Kurt interrupted, but nodded for him to continue. he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was right now.

"Umm... vell, a little birdie told me zat you liked me..." Oh dear god. Who was it? Kitty was about ready to go murder someone at the Xmen house. Jean? probably not. Rogue? Naw. Scott? Definite possibility. She and Scott were going to have a little talk when she got home. One that involved duck tape and glitter.

"And... um I vas zinking..." Oh well, maybe Scott didn't need to be punished too badly. She could already feel a smile coming onto her face as she listened to Kurt attempt to ask her out. His nervousness was quite cute.

"Zat ve vould be better off as just friends."

Mission aborted.

!#$%^&^%$##$%^&*&^%$##$%^&*&^%$##$%^&*&^%$#

"What the hell does that mean anyways?" Kitty yelled at her stuffed dragon, throwing him across the room and onto her bed. He landed facing her side of the room and she scowled.

"What are you looking at?" She growled, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at the poor stuffed toy as if daring it to try anything.

"What did Lockheed ever do to you?" Kitty spun around to fix her glare on her goth roommate that now occupied the doorway. Rogue raised an eyebrow at her and Kitty groaned, throwing herself onto her bed by Lockheed's side.

"What happened to you at school? Ah had to cover for ya in computer class." Rogue sounded irritated for a moment as she looked at her friend accusingly.

"I'm sorry, it'll never happen again." Kitty said quietly into her pillow, her voice sounding strangled and hoarse. It was only then that Rogue realized the girl who was like a sister to her was crying. She walked over, sitting down next to kitty on the bed and placing a hand on her back. Rogue had never really comforted someone before, so this was going to be interesting.

"What happened?" Her tone was softer now, less harsh without the requirement of an immediate explanatory response.

"It's just… I have never been so embarrassed in my life." She rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes to remove the few escaping tears and sat up to face Rogue. "He said we would be better off as just friends when he found out I like him! I mean, I can't even look him in the eye anymore! He must think I'm pathetic! And then he just goes on a rant of how I wouldn't like who he really was and how I didn't realize that I was too good for him! Argh!" she threw her hands up in exasperation. "And what's worse, is that it made me like him _more_!"

Rogue stared at her young friend for a long time, trying to figure out what to say. Maybe Jean was the best option for this little comfort fest after all.

"And then it gets me thinking. What could he mean by 'who he really was'? And I start coming up with strange scenarios in my head about him being an axe murderer to CIA agent to a kid sent to spy on mutants! I just really couldn't deal to school today." Rogue can barely understand the blubbering that is exiting Kitty's mouth. She instructs Kitty on how to breathe before wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Ah am gunna beat the living crap outah thaht punk." Rogue said quietly to herself. Kitty, who had been taking large breaths that was closer to hyperventilating then calming down, shook her head wildly.

"No! You can't do that! I mean, like, that's the nicest way anyone has ever turned me down before. He said he didn't deserve me, like he was some kind of evil creature. I'm pretty sure he beats the living crap out of himself enough for both of us combined." Rogue considered this, giving a small nod of acceptance for Kitty's sake. Though, in the back of her mind she was already planning to have a little chat with their German acquaintance. Someone has to pay for making her little sister cry.

She stood, making her way over to her dresser to grab stuff for a shower, needing to clean her mind from the drama. There was a reason she never got involved in this stuff. Grabbing the towel that dangled from the bedpost, Rogue made a dash for the door.

"Rogue?" Kitty's voice rang out, almost making Rogue wince. _Dang_, she thought, _almost escaped the bound to be awkward after-comforting-thank-you_. She turned, with an indifferent smile on her face.

"Ya?" Kitty looked down at the box of tissues that were now taking residence on her lap before gazing up at her best friend.

"Thanks for… you know." Rogue chuckled, waving her hand dismissively.

"Thaht's what ah'm here for."

!#$%^&*&^%$#!#$%^&^%$#!#$%^&^%$#!#$%^

"Master?" The boy gazed into the large room with almost childlike wonder. Though too old to be considered a child anymore, he was more child than man. He donned the same cloak as his mother, who was off somewhere doing Master's work. He had grown bored up in his room, playing with the same toys for the millionth time, and decided to come ask Master where his friends had gone.

"Yes?" Master didn't turn to look at his new guest, just continuing to stare up at his gargantuan computer in wonder.

"When are Kurt, Forge, and Evan going to get back? It's so boring here." Master chuckled swiveling around in his chair to face the boy. It was such a shame really. The boy would have been a great mutant someday, if only his mind could mature as his body did.

"They will be here soon; your mother is out fetching them now." The boy ventured further into the room, looking curiously at the computer's large screen.

"Mom? I should help her; I can go and get them back too!" The boy was excited by this idea. His friends would definitely come quicker if he was the one to find them. He never did understand why they loved to play extreme hide and go seek, but he figured it was a game that big kids played. He wanted to be a big kid too.

"No, you are too young to help out on missions. Go back to your room Stefan." The teenager pouted, turning on his heel quickly and leaving Master's control room. Why wouldn't Master let him help? He was 14 now, surely old enough to assist his mother in a fun game of hide and go seek. She obviously needed help, seeing as it was taking her so long to find them. He knew all of their favorite hiding spots. Forge would hide in the attic, Evan outside near the electric fence, and Kurt would be up in a chandelier someplace. Stefan sighed, thinking about Kurt. He was definitely his favorite out of the three, and he always stood up against the people that made fun of him.

Stefan flopped down on the bed in his room, sighing with distaste for the lack of change. He wanted to do something, anything that would get him out of this room. Out of this house.

Suddenly, he sat up faster than humanly possible, a large smile gleaming on his face. What if he went on a secret mission, one that Master didn't know about? He would have to be extra sneaky since he didn't want to be punished by Master. But then he could find his friends and bring them back before Master even knew he was gone.

The boy stood up in a flash, dashing to the balcony outside his room. There was only a crevice of moon lighting the sky but he could still make out the large electric fence. How was he going to get past that? Sitting on the couch that occupied the space, Stefan sat cross legged and thought really hard. Finally, an idea popped into his head and he clapped his fingers with delight. He jumped down from his third story perch and hit the ground running, literally. All he had to do was jump the fence. It seemed so simple now, why had he not thought about it before?

To onlookers, Stefan was moving so quickly that he blurred in with the scenery, almost as if he wasn't even there. He cleared the fence with unbelievable ease and dashed merrily into the forest. He was going to find his friends and finally show everyone that he was a big kid.


	6. Chapter 6

"Have you seen the Brotherhood this morning?" Bobby screamed into Scott's ear suddenly, making him jump and drop all of his books onto the floor. Giving the younger teen an annoyed look, he bent down the pick up the discarded texts.

"No, why?" Scott said as he piled the books up neatly and brought them back to their original place against his chest.

"They got their asses kicked." Scott almost dropped his books again in surprise.

"By who?" he asked incredulously. The Xmen hadn't been called out at all last night. Who else could beat up the Brotherhood though? New mutants?

"I don't know, but it's bad. Even Blob has a black eye!" Bobby's eyes were wide as he thought of all the possibilities. Who had done this to the not-so-good mutants?

"No way! I have got to see this for myself." Just then, the bell signaling first class rang, making the two boys groan.

"I guess I'll see it at lunch, see you later Bobby." Bobby nodded at him and began toward the gym, where his first class was located. Scott sighed and turned down the hall that lead to his Civics and Economics class.

Jean was already in the seat located next to his own, smiling brightly at him. Though he would never admit it, it made him melt a little on the inside. She saved that smile for him, it was his smile. Duncan had never been on the receiving end of that one, something that Scott took pride in. Now Jean just needed to realize that she was too good for that dumb football player.

"Hey Scott." She said as Scott placed his books down on the table and occupied the previously empty seat next to her.

"Hey Jean, have you seen the Brotherhood this morning?" He asked curiously, recalling what Bobby had told him.

"No, why? Did they do something?" She was surprised when he started laughing.

"No, no. Apparently, they got the crap beaten out of them last night. Bobby was telling me that they are all bruised up. It's probably some new mutants; I'll talk to the professor when we get home." Scott watched as Jean froze at his words, taking deep breaths. Noticing his worried gaze, Jean forced herself to relax and give a little smile.

"Don't worry about it, I wasn't feeling well today. I think I'm gonna head home after this class. I'll just talk to the professor when I get there." Scott gave her another look, but let it drop for the moment. Jean started thinking rapidly. _Okay, so the new mutants have obviously had a fight with the Brotherhood. Then they would be injured as well, right? Unless their powers were so great that the Brotherhood didn't stand a chance. Probably not, but it was a possibility. Evan isn't one of the mutants, which means that Kurt and Forge aren't either. That leaves us back at square one._

The teacher began doing her job at the front of the class, but Jean didn't pay her any mind. She spent the entire class thinking, which wasn't entirely unusual for her. This was, after all, the most boring class out of all her other classes. She just hoped that the professor and she could figure out who the new mutants were before they caused any more damage to themselves or others.

_Meanwhile…_

Kurt was rushing down the hall, frantically trying to make it to class on time. The three brother's had all woken up late, still completely exhausted from the activities of the night before. They had tried to go to the Brotherhood and talk to Mystique, but apparently she hadn't been there for some time. The Brotherhood attacked, and of course, out of self defense they fought back. For men recruited by Mystique, they weren't very good fighters. Kurt often wondered why so many mutants were loyal to his mother when she treated them like pawns. It was just another thing that Mystique was doing that Kurt despised her for.

He was almost down the hallway, so close to making it. He wanted to teleport to the door and save time, but that wouldn't go well with the few other students still straggling through the hallway, trying to get to class.

Suddenly, someone grabbed his shoulder and roughly pulled him backwards before shoving him up against the nearby lockers. Kurt turned his gaze on the small girl holding him in place.

"Hello Kurt." Kurt looked around wildly, only to find that all the straggling students had suddenly disappeared as well. What kind of luck was this? Kurt sighed, accepting his fate.

"Oh, uh, guten morgen Rogue." She had placed both arms on either side of him, leaning closely to his face. He would have thought she was trying to make out with him if she didn't look like she was about to kill him. Kurt brought his arms in closer to his body, trying to make sure that she didn't touch him. He could only imagine her shock if she touched him and felt the fur there instead of human skin.

Rogue was having the same issue he was. How close could she get without touching him and sending him into a coma? She wanted to get up in his face and scream at him.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Kurt was trying to figure out what was going on. She didn't know about him, right? Should he bamf? Rogue looked like she was ready to punch a hole through the closest wall.

"Um, what?" Kurt was having trouble thinking. Her hand was less than an inch away from his bare arm.

"Kitty, you ass!" Realization dawned on his face and he gave her a sheepish look. She pushed away from the lockers, taking a step back and crossing her arms over her chest. Kurt realized this was the point in time he was supposed to be explaining.

"Um, it's just zat… um..." He sputtered out. Rogue could be really menacing when she wanted to, and right now, she looked ready to kill innocent puppies.

"She's too good for me, and she doesn't really know ze real me, and she couldn't like who I really am and-" Rogue tried to hide her smirk as Kurt continued ranting and babbling the same things over and over again.

"Listen." She cut in harshly, once again trapping him in-between the lockers and herself. "If ah ever hear thaht you made er cry again, you will no lahnger be able to reproduce, ya hear?" Kurt nodded, shrinking back away from her gaze.

"What's going on here?" They both turned, Rogue taking a step away from Kurt, and looked at Principle Darkholme. When neither of the children spoke the older woman raised an eyebrow at them.

"Anna Marie, please go to you class, I have to have a word with Mister Wagner here." Rogue suddenly noticed that Kurt and the principal were staring at each other. She was too confused to yell at the principal for using her real name.

"It wasn't Kurt's fault; I was the one that held him back from class." Now Rogue felt bad. She had only wanted to ruff Kurt up a little bit, not get him in trouble. The pair still hadn't broken their staring contest, but Rogue felt Kurt take a deep breath next to her.

"Don't worry about it Rogue, I'll be fine." Kurt comforted her. She nodded, backing up and giving Kurt a small wave, almost as if she hadn't just been threatening him within an inch of his life, before heading down the hallway. She turned the corner before stopping to listen to what the pair was saying.

"Is she…?" Kurt asked roughly, already knowing Mystique's answer. She had called Rogue by the name Anna Marie, which could only mean one thing.

"Yes." Kurt growled at his mother.

"You stay avay from her." Kurt suddenly wished he was in his true form so he would look more menacing with his lips pulled back to reveal his fangs.

"And you'll do what? What if she wants to know me?" Principal Darkholme leaned against the lockers and looked down at her son.

"She doesn't." She gave him a look.

"Oh, and you know this how?" Kurt smirked and stared into his mother's fake eyes.

"Because I vish I had never known you. Margali is mein mother and ze circus is mein family. You are just an evil voman zat von't leave me alone." Kurt whispered this to her, as if it were a secret. Mystique looked as though she had been physically smacked across the face. Her mask quickly fell back into place as she straightened her stance.

"If I won't leave you alone then why did you come looking for me last night?" she asked in a harsh whisper.

"Ve Vanted to make sure zat you veren't ze one looking for our location. Ve can feel someone trying to get into our minds." He whispered back accusingly.

"Since when do I have mind powers? It was probably that insane man that keeps kidnapping you and your friends. You remember him, right? Master?" She said it all-to-innocently and he growled at her again. If she tried to send him back there… he was too religious for the murderous thoughts running through his head.

"Schlampe, Du solltest besser nicht gebe ihm meine standort. Ich werde dich töten. Aufenthalt weg von mir und meinen Freunden. Du sind nicht meine mutter." She just laughed at his whispered threats and ruffled his hair with fake affection.

"Don't you think its about time you learned English?" She taunted as he swatted her hand away.

"Go away." he muttered, wondering why he was even having his conversation. He saw Mystique give herself a satisfied smirk.

"I suggest you get back to class Mister Wagner." She glared at him one last time before turning sharply and walking forcefully down the hallway. Rogue heard the approaching footsteps and rushed into the bathroom, thinking over the conversation she had just over heard. Were they talking about her? She cursed and wished that she had been able to hear what the pair had been whispering about before the principal had dismissed him. Rogue felt like they had been talking about something important. When she was sure that both Kurt and the principal would be gone, she silently exited the bathroom and continued down the hallway to the class she had already missed half of.

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Kurt, while hating his mother for everything she had ever done, was thankful for the reveal of his sister's identity. He had wanted to know for so long who she was. She used to taunt him with how much better Anna Maria was, how much smarter she was, how much prettier she was. Kurt had begged her multiple times to tell him where his sister was, but she loved to torture him. As far as Kurt knew, Anna Marie was the only person that was in his real family. Mystique obviously didn't count, and who knew who his father was? If the man had nerve enough to sleep with his bitch of a mother, Kurt probably didn't want to know him.

Kurt wanted to learn everything about her. What was her favorite band? What foods did she like? What did she do in her spare time? They had a whole childhood of memories that he wanted to make up on.

Unfortunately, Rogue seemed unaware of Mystiques status, or his own. He seriously doubted that she would believe such an impossible thing. He was blue for heaven's sake! Why would she want to be related to that?

Sighing, Kurt realized that he could never be a brother to Rogue, but he would try to be a really good friend and someone she could count on.

"Kurt!" He looked over to see Scott and Rogue waving him over to the lunch table. He laughed and began to make his way over when he saw Kitty walking toward the table a few feet away from him. He slid up next to her and smiled.

"Guten Tag Kätzchen. How have you been on zis vonderfully rainy day?" Kitty looked up at her new guest and almost frowned. Why was he being so nice to her when he knew she liked him? She realized that he truly meant it when he said that they would stay friends. Nothing was going to change from the way it was before. This, while making her happy, made her frustrated as well. How could she just pretend that she didn't like him?

"Hey Kurt. Not too bad I guess. It's always a good day when Lance Alvers isn't here." It wasn't a lie. Lance Alvers, who was part of the Brotherhood, seemed obsessed with making conversations between the two of them awkward. She let out a sigh of relief when she walked into the Science lab and he wasn't there.

"Ja, he's a jerk." Kurt sounded as if he spoke from experience. Kitty looked at him curiously but decided not to comment on it.

"Hey guys." Kurt said as he took the seat between Rogue and Scott.

"Hey Kurt, listen, ah'm sorry fer getting ya in trouble with Principal Darkholme." Rogue said sincerely, still feeling awful about the early morning exchange.

"It's all good. Thanks for trying to take ze blame though. Principal Darkholme and I have known each ozzer for avhile. Ve didn't get along vell at our old school." And then he sent a meaningful look across the table to Evan, whose mouth was hanging partially ajar with shock. Forge's reaction was strange, seeing that he was usually as calm as a hippie. He balled his hands into fists and glared at the table. To the group it seemed as though Forge didn't like the principal anymore than Kurt did.

"But," Kurt continued. "If you wanted to pay me back, you could be mein personal tutor for English." And then he gave her the puppy eyes. Rogue groaned and shielded her eyes away from the power of the puppy look.

"Fahn, fahn, ah'll be yer human English dictionary. When would these tutorin sessions be?" Kurt looked ecstatic.

"Thank you thank you! Um… any time. My house, your house, I don't really care!" Scott laughed along with the rest of the table at how excited Kurt was. He thought that Kurt was going to start kissing Rogue's feet. Kurt started blabbering on about how he was going to be able to pass English and not have to retake his sophomore year when Scott felt something coiling around his ankle. It felt like a snake with fur and Scott outright screamed before falling out of his chair and onto the floor. Then, just as quickly as the snake had been there, it was gone. The rest of the cafeteria's occupants didn't pay Scott's outburst any thought, but the rest of his own table was looking at him with mixed reactions.

"Dude, are you okay?" Evan asked, coming around to help him up.

"Yeah, I guess. There was a snake or something that started wrapping around my ankle. It was so weird." Scott said, looking down underneath the table to find nothing other than the feet of his friends.

"Yeah, okay Scott. Why would a snake, like, be in the school anyway?" Kitty said, giggling at Scott. The rest of the table seemed to be thinking the same thing except for Forge, who was looking wide-eyed at Kurt, who was trying to look anywhere but at Forge. Rogue noticed this and gave the two an odd look.

"Weird." Bobby said, taking a large bite out of his apple. The others nodded in agreement and went back to eating their various foods without really giving the incident more thought. Forge was still burning a hole in Kurt's head and Evan had joined in. Kurt could sense a lecture in his future.

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"Professor?" Rogue said as she walked into the Professor's private study. He wheeled around from his window to look at her and smiled. Another teenager who had been sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk turned to look at her also.

"Oh, ah'm sorry Professor. Ah didn't realize ya had company." She started backing away toward the door.

"That's quite alright Rogue. This is Kyle, a new student who can control fire. He will be going to school tomorrow with you and the rest of the team." The young man stood and held out his hand to shake. Rogue looked down at her ungloved hands and shot the professor a worried glance.

"Kyle, while I'm sure Rogue is very pleased to meet you, she won't be shaking your hand. She had a mutation that makes it so whenever she touches someone she takes there energy, memories, and powers." Kyle didn't look offended or shocked, simply smiling and lowering his hand.

"It's nice to meet you." Rogue just gave him a nod and stepped around him to face the Professor once again.

"Anyway, Professor, Kurt is coming over tonight at 6 so I can help him with his English. Tell everyone to keep in on the down low?" Rogue looked hopefully at the Professor, who just chuckled and nodded.

"Of course Rogue. In the meantime, can you show Kyle to his room? It should be the one directly across from Bobby's." she sighed but nodded her head, turning and walking out of the room with only a small signal for the new kid to follow.

"So," Kyle started after a couple seconds of silence. "Who is Kurt?" Rogue looked at him out of the corner of her eye and saw that he was actually curious. Most men who met her tended to attempt and flirt, or worse, get all touchy feely. They usually didn't care about random things. _Ah guess this boy is immune to my irresistible charms_, Rogue thought sarcastically. She never understood why guys liked her so much, what part of 'If-I-touch-you-die' don't they understand?

"A friend from school. He lived in Germany until, like, three years ago, so he doesn't really have English down yet. I offered to help because I kind of owed him." She shrugged her shoulders as they began their journey up to the third floor.

"Why did you owe him?" Rogue was beginning to see that Kyle was a very curious creature. They continued their small talk all the way to Kyle's room before Rogue wished him goodbye.

"See'ya later Rogue." He called after her as she started to walk away.

"Yup." She didn't turn around to see his response as she turned the corner and headed down the stairs to the second floor where her room was located.

When she got to her room she began reading a book about World War II that they had to read for history class. She found as she continued reading that she kept thinking back to Kyle, about what he was doing or who he was talking to. Shaking her head to remove the traitor thoughts, she realized that she had developed a small crush on him. _Great_, she thought_, Just what I need_. She fell back onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling for awhile, contemplating whether or not she should call her mom, when she realized she had started wondering if her mom would like Kyle. _Get out of my head!_ She screamed internally. She needed a distraction, now. Before she could come up with any ideas, the Professor's voice was inside her head.

_Kurt's here, I'm letting everyone else know to keep it 'down low' as you so put it._ She giggled and gave her mental thanks to him before rushing out of her room and down to the lobby where Kurt had just begun to knock on the door.

"Howdy Kurt." She greeted, opening the door wider so that Kurt could fully come inside. His eyes were wide as he took in the house. It was huge! Way bigger than his own home, by three times at least. Rogue noticed that he was paying special attention to the chandelier and gave him a weird look. Kurt was too busy thinking about how awesome it would be to hang from it by his tail to see it.

"Amazing." He breathed; staring up at the lighting fixture like it was god.

"Um, Kurt? Are ya okay?" Rogue asked, worried for her friends mental health.

"Vhat? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Zis place is amazing zough! I mean, it's so big and huge and-" Rogue cut him off by placing a gloved finger on his lips and giving him a look.

"Right, sorry. Anyvays, where shall the tutoring be held?" Kurt's eyes danced with wonder as he continued to gaze around the house.

"In my room, C'mon." She grabbed his hand, tugging him toward the staircase, her own eyes gleaming with happiness at the thought of her first real friend outside the institute.


	7. Chapter 7

Kitty was going to explode. For the past few weeks, she had watched the love of her life and her best friend growing closer and closer. Yeah, she definitely loved him; Kurt was just the lovable kind of guy. He was funny, smart, charming, and always listened to what you had to say. It was as if she had written Santa a list of all the things she wanted in a guy for Christmas, and Kurt had arrived girt wrapped with a little bow on top of his head. And then her best friend had come in and stolen him.

Rogue had been the one to comfort her when Kurt turned her down, and yet the very next day she was in their room helping him with English. They would go to the movies, hang out after school to work on projects, and talk on the phone about nothing and everything. It made her sick to her stomach. Why couldn't Kurt like her? Why, out of all the females in the world, did it have to be Rogue? Rogue was more like a sister to Kitty than a friend, and it was as if she was betraying Kitty by going after Kurt like she was. Then again, she wanted Rogue to be happy. Let's just say that Kitty's mind was a very confused and dangerous place.

Kitty walked into her room and practically ran over to her dresser. She couldn't wait to get into her uniform and work out some of her stress in the danger room. Logan was going to be home sometime today, and it would be his first training session since he had left three months ago. Everyone had been dreading having to do one of Logan's training sessions, but Kitty figured it was just the thing she needed to get her mind off things.

She walked into the room's mutual bathroom and locked the door behind her before getting changed. She couldn't predict when Kurt and Rogue were going to walk through the door, and she really didn't want to be caught changing by Kurt. Getting turned down by him had been embarrassing enough, no need to throw nudity into the mix.

"- and now, vhenever he even hears ze vord spaghetti, he screams like a little girl." Kurt's voice entered the room followed by Rogue's laughter.

"That was so mean of ya! Poor Forge. Though, tomorrow is spaghetti day at school." Kitty could almost see the evil smile that dawned on Rogue's face.

"Be prepared to revive Forge from a fatal heart attack. But, I zink ve should go easy on ze teasing, everyone's afraid of somezing." Rogue flopped herself down onto her bed, raising an eyebrow at Kurt in question.

"What are you afraid of, circus boy?" he laughed and settled down at the bottom of her bed.

"Vouldn't you like to know? Are you trying to find out my veaknesses?" she rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh drat, my plans to kill you have been foiled. How else will I destroy you without knowing your weaknesses? The world is doomed!" Rogue said over dramatically as she pretended to curse at the sky. Kurt snorted and shook his head at her weird antics.

"The vorld could not get rid of me zat easy. I'm here for keeps. Though, it seems as zough you are at a disadvantage." Rogue turned her head to the side and looked at him, confused.

"Ah am, am Ah?" He smirked at her.

"Ja, you are. For I know your one and only veakness." He tapped his finger against his temple and smiled.

"And that is…?" She trailed off, waiting for him to fill in the blank.

"A young man by the name of Kyle Kenny." Kitty could hear the sound of Rogue throwing a pillow at Kurt. Kyle Kenny, the new kid? Kitty hadn't had much of a chance to talk to him since he had arrived, but he seemed like an okay dude, just really shy.

"Shut up! He would never lihke me lihke that anyway." Kurt groaned and threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"Ja, he does! Every time you valk into ze room he gets hearts in his eyes and starts singing _I will always love you_ by Whitney Houston vhile being carried by angels." Rogue burst out laughing at the wonderful mental image Kurt had just provided her with and slapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"What ah mean is that he is such a nice guy and ah am a… not so nice gal. He deserves bettah than me." Kitty was starting to get confused. So, Rogue didn't like Kurt? Then why were they spending so much time together? Kitty sighed quietly as she realized that she may have overreacted a little. They were probably really good friends and that's all. Curse her teenage hormones.

"Vhat! Of course not. You have to let him make ze choice of vhether or not you are good enough for him. No one can ever make zat choice for someone else." _Hypocrite_, Kitty thought bitterly as she shuffled closer to the bathroom door. Rogue narrowed her eyes at the teenager in front of her.

"What about you? I'm pretty sure you said those exact words to Kitty." Rogue could see Kurt trying to come up with an explanation.

"No, zat's different." Rogue threw her hands up in exasperation, partially mocking him for doing so earlier and partially to let out the extreme frustration she was feeling.

"Enlighten me, oh wise one. How on earth is that different?" it came out harsher than she intended it to, but Rogue couldn't find it in herself to care right now.

"She can't know about ze things zat make her too good for me, thus saying zat she can't make an educated decision." Rogue could see that look in his eyes. It was the look he always got when he thought about his past; all the things he had done and the things others had done to him. She hated that look; it made him seem utterly alone.

"Kurt…" She trailed off, not really knowing what else to say. Whenever he starting thinking about things like this is when he started shutting her out. They had grown to be such good friends, and yet he still wouldn't tell her what had happened.

"I have to go, Ororo told me to be back early for dinner." He picked up his bag off the floor and was out the door before Rogue could find her voice to call him back. Kitty counted to ten, just to be positive that Kurt was out of the room, before she phased through the bathroom door.

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_All Xmen suit up and report to the jet._ Kitty groaned as the Professor's message entered her mind. She leapt from her bed and quickly started making her way down the stairs. All of her muscles ached in protest at the sudden movement. The training run that Logan had made them do was just as hard as they expected it was going to be. And now, once they were tired and aching, the Professor decides it's time for a mission.

"What do you think it is this time?" Kyle asked as he came up beside her on the staircase. It was actually the first time Kitty had ever heard him talk. She simply shrugged her shoulders at him and continued walking, not really knowing what else to say.

Getting suited up as quickly as possible, Kitty noticed the rest of the Xmen doing the same. There was a strange silence that filled the air, one that Kitty had never heard before. Usually the team was laughing or joking about something or other as they got suited up for a mission, but they were just silently dressing and heading out one by one. It was weird.

"The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round all through the town! The wipers…" Unfortunately, the only person who was talking was Bobby, who had been singing the wheels on the bus for ten minutes straight.

"Will someone shut him up _please_!" Rogue finally snapped. Kitty was close behind her, ready to decapitate the boy herself. Kyle swiftly smacked Bobby in the back of the head, ending his song mid-word.

"Hey!" He shouted to no one as the team continued down the hallway. He grumbled about something under his breath that no one cared to listen to before running to catch up.

"Ugh, Ah have such a headache. Did we have to have a mission _today_?" Rogue complained as they walked onto the X jet and sat in one of the various seats. Rogue flopped herself down and only bothered to buckle on strap before leaning her head back and moaning.

"Tell me about it, I feel like someone ripped of my arms and slapped me with them." Kitty said as she rubbed her arms soothingly. She made a mental note in the back of her head to never be excited about a Logan session again. Ever.

"Let's just get this over with. What are we going to do?" Everyone's heads turned simultaneously to look at Scott. It was almost creepy.

"Mystique and the Brotherhood are trying to attack a new boy who has just started showing his powers so that he will join them." Scott explained as he started up the engines and began the flight.

"So all we gotta do is kick some Brotherhood but and offer the kid a place with us." Jean summed it up. This would be just like any other mission they had been on, really.

"Wait a minute, Mystique is back? She's been gone for, like, ever." Kitty was confused. They had all thought that Mystique had abandoned the Brotherhood, but now she was back after so long? That didn't make any sense. Mystique had bigger fish to fry then the Brotherhood, she was with Magneto now.

"I guess so. Who really knows why Mystique does anything?" there was a nod of agreement that passed through everyone before they fell back into their usual routines. Rogue slept, so that she wouldn't have to deal with anyone else with her giant headache, and Kyle watched Rogue sleep, because he was just that much in love with her. Kitty and Bobby were joking around about something or other, and Scott would make small talk with Jean as he attempted not to crash and kill them all.

_Meanwhile…_

"Hello there, Jamie."Mystique said to the small boy who was huddling in the corner of his bedroom. Jamie had been trying to get ready for bed when this strange blue lady and her team of morons came crashing in. The bodies of his dead parents were lying limply across the room. Why were they doing this to him? What did they want with him?

"Listen closely. You are going to come with us, or you can die." Jamie pushed himself farther into the corner, trying to disappear. He was sobbing into his own chest, trying to find a way out of this situation. His parents were dead, what was he going to do? Jamie doubted that he could escape anyway; she had so many mutants with her that he didn't stand a chance, even if he made 100 multiples of himself.

Jamie continued to cry, making Mystique impatient. She needed to get him out of here quickly, before the Xmen showed up and tried to stop her.

"I don't wanna go with you." Jamie mumbled helplessly. What was a twelve year old boy to do? His parents had just been killed in front of him and it was all his fault. If he hadn't of been a mutant and stayed a normal child, then his parents would still be alive. He practically was welcoming the death that Mystique was offering him.

"Oh, that's just too bad." Mystique whipped a knife out of nowhere hurled it down at his cowering form. Jamie squealed in pain as the knife penetrated his stomach. He fell onto his hands and knees, taking deep, painful breaths as he slowly removed the utensil from his abdomen. He was full out sobbing again, the tears blurring his vision until he could see Mystiques feet directly in front of him. He gasped and shoved himself away from her presence and back up against the wall. She picked up the discarded knife and examined it momentarily, almost smiling at the scarlet blood that now resided there, and brought back her hand again to stab into the boys face.

Jamie closed his eyes, waiting for the death that was inevitable. There was a soft _Bamf_ and a lot of rustling around before the sound of someone being thrown through a window rang throughout the room. There were screams and the sounds of lasers going off before Jamie started to lose consciousness throughout the chaos that surrounded him. He opened his eyes one last time to see a blue figure coming toward him; then it all became dark.

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"Woah."

The place was destroyed, large spikes sticking out in random places and laser marks, just like there had been in the bank. The windows were smashed, tables broken, and some things were still on fire. Upstairs, the bodies of the boy's parents were strewn in a corner and most of the wall had holes in it that cut through the dry wall and insulation and lead into the dark night. It looked as if the Xmen had been there. Yet, here they stood, surveying the damage and finding out that they were too late for the party. Also, the boy was nowhere in sight.

"The new mutants took on Mystique and the Brotherhood." It wasn't a question, but a statement. The question was, who won? And who had the boy now?

_Jean,_ the Professor's voice filled her in and she struggled to tune out everyone else's side conversations to hear his voice better.

_The new mutants have the boy. I was able to get a lock on Jamie's mind with their own before they teleported and I lost track of them. Mystique and the Brotherhood have gone home to tend their wounds._ Jean relayed this message to the others.

"Who are these new mutants?" Rogue asked skeptically. They had been hearing so much about them, yet they hadn't once seen them.

"The Professor doesn't know. One of them has teleportation powers so that the Professor cannot lock onto their minds. Also, one of them can tell when he is trying to find them mentally, so they can teleport away before he can reach them." The team started the short walk back to the X jet.

"How many are there?" Bobby asked, slightly excited at the thought that they could be getting new friends. The institute got boring after a long time with no new people. Kyle didn't count to him, seeing that he barely ever spoke at all.

"We don't know, that's why the Professor was worried about them. But now, it seems that they don't have any calamitous intentions." They all boarded the plane and got ready for takeoff, somewhat put off that they didn't get any fighting action on this useless mission.

_The next day…_

Jamie groaned, feeling as if someone had taken a sledge hammer and bashed it against his skull multiple times. What had happened? Where was he?

He shifted his weight and felt that he was lying on something soft. A bed? He was trying desperately to figure out what had happened and how he had gotten here. Suddenly, it all came back to him. Being attacked, his parents being killed, the blue woman stabbing him.

Jamie sat up on the bed with a gasp, eyes wide as he searched his surroundings. The room was obviously a boy's room, though it wasn't Jamie's own. There were posters of skateboarders and bands up on the walls, dirty clothes scattered around the floor, and garbage everywhere. Why would the blue woman bring him here?

He jumped when the door creaked open to reveal an African American woman with white hair and gentle eyes. The young boy pushed himself into the corner, looking at her fearfully. Ororo sighed, wondering if the boy would ever recover after what he had been through.

"Hi there, you need to rest. Your wound is still fresh and I haven't finished bandaging it yet." Jamie suddenly became aware of the excruciating pain emitting from his lower abdomen, but didn't make any sign that he was going to be moving from his crouch in the corner.

"Honey, you don't have to be afraid, we saved you from the blue woman." Ororo explained, walking further into the room.

"S-she's not h-here?" Jamie stuttered out.

"No, I would never allow such an evil woman into my household. My name is Ororo, my sons and I helped you last night with Mystique." Seeing Jaime's confused look, she continued. "Mystique, the blue woman, is in a group of mutants that want to kill off all humans." Jamie nodded at this information, seeming to instantly relax into Evan's bed. He took the glass of milk that Ororo offered him and laid back down.

"I-I'm Jamie." He closed his eyes and sighed, relaxing his aching muscles and trying to ignore the pain. When he felt the bottom of his shirt being lifted up he jumped and screamed, feeling his whole body tense up once again, making his pain double.

"Shh… its fine, I'm just going to tend to your cut." She held up a bottle of ointment and a bandage for him to see and he nodded slowly, lifting up his shirt the rest of the way. Jamie was surprised by how _awful_ the cut looked. The surrounding area was red and black, the cut itself being a dark purple red, and oozing yellow puss. Feeling that Jamie was going to start freaking out, she paid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, it's much better than it looks. Now, this is going to hurt, but it needs to be done or else it will get infected." Jamie nodded, gritting his teeth together as Ororo started putting the ointment on his wound. It stung, really badly, and it took all of Jamie's energy not to fight her away so he wouldn't be in pain.

Ororo didn't like causing the boy any more pain than was necessary, but unfortunately for Jamie, this was necessary. He wouldn't heal as fast as Kurt did, meaning that he would be on bed rest for awhile. She felt sorry for the boy, after all he had been through in the past 24 hours, he must be so confused.

She finished the ointment and carefully placed the bandage so that it covered the entire wound. When she pulled back up from her crouched position, she was surprised to see that Jamie was sobbing into his pillow. How had she not noticed before?

"Hun? What's wrong?" he turned to look at her, his face covered with the tracks of his tears and his eyes filled to the brim. Ororo pushed his hair out of his face and touched his cheek gently.

"What am I gunna do now? Where am I going to go? Those evil people killed my family!" Ororo nodded in understanding and pulled the young boy up into her arms. She rocked him and petted his hair gently as he sobbed into her shoulder. She knew it was best for him to get out all of these emotions now, rather than later.

"Well," She started after he had quieted down. "You are always welcome to become a part of our family. Would that be okay with you?" He just nodded his head and hugged onto her more tightly.

"Okay then," Ororo said, chuckling slightly. "We'll have to introduce you to the boys as their new brother when they get home from school."


	8. Chapter 8

Toad stuck his tongue out and caught the fly that had been buzzing around the window, not really giving much thought to the action as he listened to the loud argument going on in the other room. They had got their butts handed to them again by Mystique's wonder boy and his brigade of losers, and she still was being stubborn about it.

"We need to go after them! We can't just let them keep ruining our plans!" Lance shouted at Mystique.

"We will not lay a finger on them. We can still fulfill our purpose with them intact. There is no need to put their lives in danger." Mystique's voice was cold and threatening. It would have made any smart man go running for the hills. Unfortunately for Lance, he was never the smartest cookie in the jar.

"Why do you protect that little fuzz ball? He doesn't love you, he hates you! I have heard him on multiple occasions say that you weren't his mother! Why do you put up with that?" instead of an answer, Todd witnessed as Lance was thrown into the room and through the window on the other side.

"You all need to calm down; Jamie was not a necessity to the mission. If you do recall, we were going to kill him anyways. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go scout out our next target. Get to class." And with that departing note, the Brotherhood boys were left alone.

"One of these days…" Lance trailed off angrily has he stalked into the living room. Small tremors were shaking the ground as he could feel the anger building inside of him.

"What? You're going to fight her? We'll see how well that goes. She's Magnito's right hand man; do you think he would take that sitting down? Besides, you'd get your ass kicked." Pietro commented as he came in from the kitchen, taking a large bite out of his apple. Lance glared at him for a split second before parading out of the house to wait in the jeep.

"Yo, Blob, we gotta move it." Toad said, jumping from his resting place atop the large reclining chair. Fred pulled himself slowly from the depths of the couch and grabbed the backpack resting next to the stairs, following a fully-healed Lance out the door. They all piled into the all-too-small jeep and started the slow ride to school.

"Blob! Get off of me!" Pietro shoved Blob to the left, inevitably making Todd a pancake against the window.

"Hey, get off me!" Toad muttered, bracing his feet against the door and pushing against the giant blob that was cutting off his oxygen, in turn making Fred sit on top of Pietro.

The tug of war continued all the way to school until Lance was threatening everyone within an inch of their lives and Toad had successfully hopped into the front seat, sticking a slimy green tongue out at Quicksilver as Fred let out a long and obnoxiously loud fart.

"Blob!" Pietro squealed, putting a hand over his mouth and diving out of the car. Toad and Lance quickly followed suit into the empty parking lot. Blob didn't look the least bit apologetic as he got out of the car his own time, humming happily. The others glared at him from where they had taken refuge on the grass.

"Where is everybody?" Blob asked, looking around and scratching his head. It was only then that the other Brotherhood members realized that, while there were cars filling the lot, everyone was already inside for class.

"Dammit! What time is it?" Lance growled at Toad. He looked frightened for a moment before sighing and glancing down at the digital watch that lived on his wrist. Seriously, Lance was sure that he had never seen Toad without it on.

"8:30 yo." Pietro groaned, punching the side of the jeep to get out a small ounce of his anger. They were going to be late for school. _Again_.

"Hey, watch the car!" Lance yelled getting up in Pietro's face. Toad sighed and leapt up on a nearby bench and got comfortable; this was going to take awhile.

"You were the one that made us late anyway! If you had just stopped having that useless debate with Mystique over _absolutely nothing_, then we would have been on time." Pietro yelled back, gesticulating angrily with his arms.

"Well maybe if she didn't put that _precious_ son of hers above of our own safety, especially when he could give less than a shit about her, then I wouldn't have to fight with her!" Blob popped down on the opposite side of the Toad's bench, getting settled in to watch the show. The bench, however, flipped over due to Fred's gargantuan weight added to one side. Toad was flung into the air, landing a couple of feet away.

"Ow yo. That hurt." He grumbled, standing and rubbing the back of his head. That was when he noticed the figure that was making his way across the deserted parking lot.

"Hey guys, looks like we got some company." All of the brotherhood turned simultaneously to look at their new guest. Lance and Pietro looked at ear other, identical evil smirks finding resting place on their faces, as they watched him approach.

"Hey Kurt!" Kurt turned toward where the Brotherhood was standing and groaned. Really? Why did they have to choose today to confront him? He was still tired from the battle two days ago, and had decided against staying home with Forge and Evan to watch over Jamie. Now, he regretted that decision. Who knew what the Brotherhood was going to do to him now that he didn't have his backup? Though, porting always was an option.

"Hey guys, vas up?" they all approached him, unconsciously forming a circle around him. Kurt rolled his eyes at them, thinking about porting before they started anything.

"If it isn't rat boy." Kurt really didn't need this right now; he was already late for class. If Forge hadn't of tried to upgrade the waffle maker…

"Listen guys, I don't vant any trouble, now if you'll excuse me…" Kurt tried to start his way toward the school, but it was instantly blocked by Blob. Kurt sighed, knowing this really wasn't going to end well.

"There's something different about him. Pietro, do you know what it is?" Lance asked while tapping a finger to his chin and looking Kurt up and down with fake curiosity.

"Hm, I don't know, new haircut?" the group laughed at the horribly unamusing pun. Kurt resisted the urge to roll his eyes again, knowing it would just give him a headache if he continued doing so. Though, eye rolling seemed kind of inevitable when talking with boneheads like the Brotherhood.

"Yeah, and isn't he looking a little pale? I think he's lost some of his color." Pietro said in a high voice, mocking him with false concern. Kurt tried to get by the Blob, only to have Pietro appear in front of him.

"Really? Come on, ve're at school. No need to get into a fight." Kurt tried Plan B; convince them that fighting in public is stupid. Luckily, before one of the Brotherhood could make some idiotic comment, a voice broke in.

"Hey Kurt, C'mon, we have to get to class." Scott broke into the circle of boys and grabbed Kurt's arm, heading toward the direction of the school. Blob continued to block their path with Pietro at his side, sneering at the goody-two-shoes that stood before them. Scott sighed, raising his hands to his shades.

"Do we really want to do this here?" He nudged his head toward the windows of one of the classrooms where multiple students were staring, waiting for the fight to begin.

"We weren't gonna do nutin to him. His mama makes sure of that." Kurt hissed at the mention of his mother and took a threatening step toward Pietro.

"You tell her zat I don't need or vant her help, I can protect myself." Pietro put his hands up in mock fear before laughing and pushing Kurt back.

"We tried, but you know her; more stubborn than… well, you get the idea." He smirked before stepping aside, bowing with one arm and directing them toward the school. Kurt growled as they passed, though it wasn't as terrifying as when he was in his natural form. His fangs had been known to make people fall to their knees and pray for god to kill them, who knew what a good snap would do the Brotherhood? Kurt really hoped he never had to find out.

As Kurt stalked off he could feel Scott by his side, giving him weird looks every once and awhile. If anyone was used to getting looked at funny, it was Kurt. Out of the corner of his eye Kurt saw Scott begin to open his mouth.

"Just don't ask." Kurt said between gritted teeth, already dreading having to explain what had just happened between him and the Brotherhood. How was he going to explain that? Oh hey, by the way, I'm a blue demon mutant with special powers. Cue the running and screaming with terror.

The silence between the two continued into the school and all the way down into Principal Darkholme's office. Scott went in first to get his own late slip, giving Kurt a salute on his way out of the office. Kurt sighed, realizing that his attempt to control his anger through thinking of panda bears and frog lilies wasn't helping. And now, he had to go in there and _try_ not to explode in his mother's face.

When he entered the fairly organized office, the first thing that Kurt noticed was that there was a smiley face sticker on the front of her desk. Out of all the things to notice, why did that seem to draw his attention? Maybe it was the irony behind the small picture being on such an evil woman's desk. Maybe it was that the bright yellow was the only color besides black and brown in the entire room. All he knew was that if he focused on that smiley face instead of Mystique, then she had a greater chance of being alive after this meeting.

"Hello Kurt, late for school again I see?" Principal Darkholme asked, staring at the boy with a bit of concern. He was glaring at her desk. I was silent for a good ten minutes, Mystique wondering what Kurt was going to do and Kurt wanting to scrape the smiley face off with a butcher's knife.

"I can take care of myself!" Kurt suddenly snapped, lifting his gaze to look into her eyes. Mystique was honestly startled by the interruption of silence and jumped a bit in her seat.

"I don't know what you're talking about Mr. Wagner, but if you are late for school again, it will be a detention, understand." The principal adjusted her glasses on her face and leaned forward slightly, getting back into her character.

"Well just call my _mom_ and I'm sure she'll excuse my tardiness." He stressed the word 'mom', not getting as much pleasure as he had hoped by watching her wince. She silently filled out the form and handed it to him, a mask of indifference set on her face. As their hands brushed, she could feel the fur that he hid under his hologram. It almost made her smile, before she thought better of it.

"Off to class Mr. Wagner." She instructed harshly, turning around in her chair so she wouldn't have to watch him leave. Mystique listened as he hastily shuffled out the door, not even pausing to look back at her.

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Jean watched as Scott entered the class almost an hour late. She recalled this morning when they had almost been ready to go when Rogue accidently touched him for a flicker of a second, making him knocked out cold. Luckily, the touch had been so brief that Rogue didn't start shooting lasers out of her eyes, thought the Professor did give her sunglasses for the day, just in case.

_Hey Scott_ Jean said happily as he approached the table that they shared.

_Listen, Jean, I need you to look at something_. Scott began showing her what had gone on in the parking lot that morning. All of what the Brotherhood was saying and all of Kurt's responses were making Scott think that Kurt was a mutant.

_I never checked Kurt_. Scott gave Jean a shocked and confused look. She bit her lip, already feeling guilty that she had failed her first solo mission.

"Why not?" Scott said aloud, forgetting to respond mentally. Jean put a finger to her lips, looking frantically around the room to make sure no one had noticed the strange outburst. The students were looking as bored as ever and the teacher continued on with whatever boring subject he was trying to kill them with.

_Because, when Evan was cleared I just assumed that none of them were. I mean, if they were all living together, surely they were either all mutants or none at all, right?_ Scott shook his head momentarily in disappointment before responding.

_We'll have to talk to the professor about doing a test for Kurt to see if he's a mutant. _Jean nodded, looking a little defeated. She had wanted to impress so many people on this solo mission, no one more than Scott. He was always the leader, the man making the plans, and she felt like she almost needed to prove her worth. She wanted to make sure that he thought she was a good agent.

"… and the deliberative democracy is the philosophy that are decisions made by a localized group of citizens obligated to participate in the consensus decision making process that is usually used to-" The teacher's insipid lecture was interrupted by the ending bell. Many kids cheered and practically ran out of the room as if their lives depended on it. In theory, they did, seeing that if they sat there any longer they might have literally collapsed from boredom.

Scott looked over to Jean as the class started to pour out of the classroom, giving her a small smile before standing and making his own way through the crowd to fight for a spot through the doorway. Jean just watched him for a moment before making her own way to the wild stampede attempting to escape the treacherous classroom.

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"Hey Scott. Oh, hey Rogue, I thought you vere Scott." Kurt said in a slightly teasing tone, already shoving his food into his face before he had even sat down at the table. Rogue turned and glared at him from behind her shades. She reached over and slapped him on the arm, stealing a fry off of his plate in the process.

"Ow! Sorry Rogue, I just thought shades vere Scott's thing?" She shrugged her shoulders, nibbling on the fry and continuing to read the new book she had gotten from the library today.

"You still coming over tonight for help on your English paper?" She asked once she had finished the fry, reaching over and grabbing an entire handful. Kurt pouted at her, looking at his former fries with such a sad look that Rogue rolled her eyes and gave him back half. He laughed and shoved then all into his mouth, taking the short time before hand to stick his tongue out at her.

"I can't, Mom is making me go grocery shopping." Taking in Rogue's strange look, Kurt sighed and began to explain. "I eat almost all ze food in ze house anyvay, so she figures I might as vell do ze shopping for it. It's just kind of been mein zing ever since I moved in." Kurt shrugged his shoulders, inhaling a hotdog so she couldn't ask any questions. Though Kurt passed it off as no big deal, Rogue could see that the small task meant a lot to him. She would never understand it, but Rogue guessed that he liked having the small bit of responsibility, knowing how immature he was.

"Where is everybody?" Rogue asked suddenly to break the awkward silence, though it was a legitimate question. Lunch was almost halfway over and only Kurt and herself had even shown up. That was very unusual; how could so many people be absent at the same time?

"Um, Forge and Evan are at home… sick. I saw Scott earlier, so I don't know vhere he is. Probably off somevhere vith Jean. Kitty told me earlier zat she vas skipping lunch to vork on a Spanish project… and zat's it. You heard from Bobby today?" Rogue tried to think back, but now that he mentioned it, she didn't even remember Bobby leaving the house this morning.

"You know what? I don't think I even saw him get out of bed for breakfast this morning… ah, he's probably just sick er somethin." Rogue shrugged off her concern, deciding to stay inside her own business, which at the moment was consuming some amazing fries.

"Ja, he's too veak to even fight off ze common cold. I tell you, he is an embarrassment to strong guys like me." Kurt flexed his muscles, sending Rogue a large grin as she just rolled her eyes and laughed at his antics.

They continued on like that for awhile, just joking and laughing about random things, and Kurt couldn't have been happier. This is what he had wanted, after all; a relationship with his only blood relative. At least, the only blood relative that he didn't want to strangle whenever they met.

"Do you ever wonder who your real parents are?" Rogue asked after the two of them had settled down. Kurt froze at the question, unable to meet her eyes. Yes, he had told Rogue that he was adopted, but they had never really talked about stuff this personal. Plus, Kurt really didn't want Rogue digging to find out who her mother was; that wouldn't go over so well. Hell, Rogue would probably run away screaming if she even knew who Kurt was, the _real _Kurt.

"I don't like to think about it. Margali was a good mom, raised me right, and always loved me. Why should I think about someone who abandoned me." Rogue nodded, seeming to understand where he was coming from, getting a thoughtful look on her face.

"Ah know, but sometimes, ah just wish I knew where I was coming from." Rogue was too busy looking down at her hands to notice the grimace on Kurt's face.

"Trust me, you don't vant to know." He muttered so that she couldn't hear.

"Listen, sometimes the past is in the past for a reason. Maybe some people are just better off not knowing where they came from." _Ah am not gonna cry. Ah am not gonna cry._ Rogue kept repeating that over and over in her head, hoping that the term 'mind over matter' could apply just this once.

"Thanks Kurt. You know, you're a really good friend." Instead of replying, Kurt leaned over and gave her a hug, careful not to touch her face with the hair on his. Rogue locked down for a second; seriously hoping that he wasn't going to be paralyzed after this experience and hugged him back.

The touching moment between them was ruined as the bell rang, signaling that lunch had ended. They broke apart, saying their goodbyes quietly before heading in the separate directions of their next classes. Rogue was feeling refreshed, knowing that the rest of the day was going to be better than it had started.

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When Kurt returned home, it was to find that Forge, Evan and Jamie had built a fort out in the backyard, complete with its own kitchen and plumbing system. Presently, they were roasting marshmallows over a hologram of a fire telling ghost stories.

_Why am I not surprised?_ Kurt thought as he entered the fort, only to be taken captive by the 'wild Indians' that lived there. Jamie was only twelve, meaning that he was still into the make believe world that children often invented in their minds, but that didn't mean that Kurt, Evan, and Forge were forced into playing along. In many ways, the trio was more child-like than Jamie.

That was where Ororo found her boys when she returned home from work at 7. They were pirates now, and Forge was the good pirate trying to save the damsel in distress; the role that Jamie had to play rather unwillingly because of his limited mobility. It had taken both Forge and Evan to carry him outside and he hadn't moved from that spot on the ground since. Although Ororo wanted to be mad at the boys for moving Jamie when he was still so weak, she couldn't help but be happy that he was adjusting so well to being a part of their family. After losing his parents right in front of his eyes, Ororo had been sure that it would take months before he would smile; yet there he was, happy as ever with his new brothers.

She called them in to eat the Pizza that she had bought from the place down the street and Kurt jumped up, throwing Jamie onto his back and running so fast that she would have thought the door would be torn off its hinges. The other boys followed in a much more civilized way, picking up the blankets and other electronic devices that Forge had made out there as they went.

"Kurt, how many times do I have to tell you? No eating on the chandelier!" Ororo scolded, giving him the look that said she meant business. He had already broken that damn chandelier three times since they had moved here; when was that boy going to learn?

After dinner, Ororo and the boys all piled onto the three person couch and popped in _An American Haunting_ to watch for movie night. Kurt popped popcorn and made dishes of ice cream, grabbing a six pack of soda out of the refrigerator with his tail on his way out of the kitchen. They stayed up late, laughing, watching movies and just being a normal family.

Jamie sighed contently as he looked at the damage they had done. The popcorn bowl had tumbled to the floor when Kurt had jumped and ported during an especially scary part in the movie, leaving the small edible puffs scattered around aimlessly. There were empty cans of soda lying around, one stuck into the chandelier next to a sleeping Kurt, and Ice cream blobs all over the couch.

After everything he had been through in the past couple days, Jamie couldn't believe how happy he was. He had loved his parents, but they weren't worthy of any gold stars. On most days back then, Jamie found himself alone at home while his father worked and his mother went out with her friends. They loved him, but they really didn't know how to take care of a child. That they needed attention added to undying love. Jamie would always remember them, and love them with all of his heart, but he thought, just maybe, that he could survive living with his new family.

Jamie looked out at the full moon, drifting to sleep slowly, happy to be alive and have someone that loved him more than anything else in the world.

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Stefan jumped to the ground from his perch atop a tree and inhaled deeply through his nose. His shoulders slumped and he fell back against a tree, trying to hold back tears. Where were his friends? Why couldn't this game just be over? He was cold, hungry and missing his mom more than anything.

_What if Mama has already found them? Master will be so angry with me!_ Stefan started to panic; realizing that coming out on his own hadn't been such a good idea. Dejectedly, Stefan turned and started to head back home.

But where was home? Stefan couldn't remember which way he had gone and now, every tree was starting to look the same.

He started crying then, sobbing and screaming until his tears blinded his sight and he ran straight into a tree. What was he going to do now? He didn't know how to get home, he didn't know where his friends were, and his stomach was trying to tell him it was time to eat, but he didn't have any food. He started to run faster, trying to get away from the bad thoughts that wouldn't leave him alone. His feet blurred as he moved faster than normally possible.

Suddenly, he stopped, almost falling over forwards at the force of it.

"Kurt?" He cried, smelling the air again for the Brimstone he had smelt milliseconds earlier. He caught the scent again and cheered in triumph. He had found his friends!

Racing off after the scent, his hunger and fear forgotten, Stefan pushed his feet to their maximum potential. He was going to finally find his friends and make Master happy with him.


	9. Chapter 9

_Xmen, assemble in the X Jet, Mystique is attempting another kidnapping of a child who has recently developed her mutant powers._ Scott practically threw his book down onto the floor, rushing to the elevator to get down to the lower levels. Though Scott reacted the fastest, he always seemed to be the last one there. It might have had something to do with that fact that Kitty could just fall through the ceiling, usually bringing Rogue along with her.

As the team rushed down the hallway, most of them were still attempting to put their uniforms on. Scott was hopping on one leg while his hands worked reverently against his leg brace and Kyle had managed to melt the zipper on his own outfit, leaving him to tug futilely against the annoying metal piece.

Scott rushed to the front of the plane to get into the pilots seat, just to see that there was already someone sitting there. Wolverine smirked at him with the cigar hanging out of the side of his mouth and started up the engine.

"Can't let you guys have all the fun." Scott smiled at him briefly, plopping down in the copilot's seat and getting buckled in.

In the back of the plane, Kyle was still unbuckled and trying once again to budge the stupid zipper. It wasn't melted together anymore, thanks to his persistent tugging, but now it had gotten stuck in the uniform itself.

Rogue looked over when she heard Kyle's frustrated sigh, only to see that his uniform was only halfway zipped up, leaving his delicious chest open for viewing. _Get ya mind out'a the gutter_, she scolded herself mentally, trying to look away. After about 10 seconds she realized that not looking at him was an impossibility. Almost hesitantly, Rogue unbuckled and approached her defeated team mate.

"It's still stuck?" she asked, being careful to keep her eyes trained on his face as to not give away her obvious infatuation with him. He sighed again, releasing the annoying zipper and letting his hands fall to his sides.

"Ya, I've been trying to get it for forever but it won't…" He trailed off as Rogue grasped the small zipper in one hand and tugging on his uniform with the other. Suddenly, Kyle felt very exposed, fighting to overcome the blush that was trying to explode on his face. Sure, he had been around Rogue before, but she had never touched him, even with her gloves on, let alone touched him while he was practically half naked. Rogue was working intently on the annoying metal tab, completely unaware of how she was making Kyle feel. Biting her lip in concentration, she reversed the zipper a little farther down than it was before, tugging at the uniform so it would unleash its hold on the poor tab. Kyle's face was beginning to heat up despite his best efforts, as he realized that lowering it was only showing more of himself to the girl of his dreams. If she didn't let go of him soon, he might die of a heart attack.

"Ah got it!" Rogue said triumphantly as she brought the zipper further up his body, resting her hand on his chest for support as the tab touched the top. Looking up at his face, Rogue just stared, wondering why she had never noticed how blue his eyes really were.

Suddenly, the jet trembled in the sky, sending the only two unbuckled passengers into the floor. Once the turbulence stopped, Rogue lifted her head to find that it had been resting on Kyle's chest. More importantly, she was lying on top of him. Her eyes darted to his face, seeing that his were wide and trained on her. Both of them blushed furiously, jumping up and taking a step back from one another.

"Oh, sorry, ah didn't mean to…" She trailed off, walking back toward her seat. He nodded, looking at his feet and shuffling back toward his own seat.

Rogue could hear Kitty and Bobby in the back, giggling and whispering about her and Kyle no doubt, and wanted to roll her eyes. They could be so childish sometimes.

Wincing as something hit the back of her head moments later, Rogue turned to glare at the teenagers making kissy faces at her. Kitty was making suggestive hand gestures and Bobby was sticking his tongue out and making out with the air. It was definitely going to be a long plane ride.

_Meanwhile…_

"Stay away from me!" Rebecca screamed, running up her stairs as fast as her legs could carry her. There was a ghostly chuckle from her kitchen before a boy with slicked hair appeared in front of her, seeming bored.

"Hey girlie." The blonde shrieked at his sudden appearance, tripping on the top stair at the same moment. She scrambled to stand up, only to have the boy grab her shoulders and hold her in place. Taking a deep breath, she felt her skin releasing liquid where he was touching. Hissing in pain, Quicksilver jumped back ran into her bathroom, attempting to wash off the acid that was currently burning his arms.

Becca continued running until she had reached the end of the hallway, her room. She ran inside, quickly closing the door behind her and locking it. How was she going to get out of here? She was searching frantically before spotting her window out of the corner of her eye and running toward it. It would be a long drop but, at the time, it seemed completely worth it. What did those people want with her, anyway? Were they mutant hunters? She doubted that, seeing as they were mutants themselves, but you never know what people will do for money.

Opening the window as far as it would go, the young mutant was trying to figure out how to get down without breaking either of her legs. She would need them to run away after all, knowing that one of them had super speed.

Just as she was about to make a jump for her trampoline that sat a good 15 feet away from her house, a small noise from behind her swivel around to face the intruder. Actually, three intruders. Her eyes bulged out of her head and she backed herself into a corner, trying to get away from the people who just wouldn't leave her alone. As Kurt looked down on her, he couldn't help but remember how they had found Jamie in such a similar position.

"Listen, we aren't here to hurt you. We are the good guys. Just stay with us and we will protect you from the blue woman and her entourage of idiots." Becca looked at the robot man warily. What if this was a trap? What if they were just trying to gain her trust so they could take her to the blue woman?

"Don't vorry, ve hate her as much as you do." The blue fuzzy one's voice was filled with so much hatred for the lady that Becca automatically knew she could trust them. They wouldn't work with someone they hated so much.

"W-what do we do?" Becca stammered, slowly coming out of the ball she had put her body into. An African American kid with blonde hair stepped forward, reaching out one hand to help her up off the ground. She stood with shaky legs, wondering where the blue woman was and why she was taking so long to attack.

"Well, we take you back to our home, and our mom can take care of that nasty cut. We took care of those goons while we were downstairs. They are long gone." Blondie said proudly, catching her as she began to fall toward one side. _Cut?_ She thought, confused. _What Cut?_ Looking down at her stomach, Becca finally realized what he was talking about. Her white shirt had been stained with blood, still gushing from the stab wound she had received when the blue woman first attacked. Why hadn't she felt it until now?

"Ow." She muttered, feeling the floodgates of pain opening. She staggered slightly, making Blondie sigh and lift her bridal style into his arms. Becca whimpered at the movement, already feeling dizzy in her head from blood loss. Kurt looked at the girl sympathetically, knowing exactly what if felt like to be stabbed. It wasn't a very pleasurable experience.

"Kurt, you need to port us o-" Forge was cut off when the sound of someone barging into the downstairs pierced their ears. The boys were suddenly alert, Evan placing Becca down in the corner again to make sure he could fight hands-free. The Brotherhood had decided to come back for more?

The mutants were all tense in the upstairs bedroom; boys crouched defensively in front of the inexperienced mutant almost unconscious on the floor, just waiting for the Brotherhood to make the first move. Kurt was attempting to keep from snapping his fangs together and growling, but it was hard to defy his animalistic instincts. He was trying though, not really wanting to scare Becca just yet. But, if it came to a fight, she was going to see him at his most animal state, probably not something she would forget.

Kurt's sensitive ears picked up on movement coming up the stairs and he started growling quietly, a warning growl that emitted from low in his chest as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. Forge and Evan, seeing Kurt's reaction, realized that the enemy was closing in. Forge fired up his lasers, ready to launch at his command, and Evan grew out his spikes. You would think that the Brotherhood would realize by now that they couldn't win a fight against the trio, especially when they were determined.

They were right outside the door now, probably listening in to see if they were inside. The three boys didn't make any sudden movements, the only sound was of their calm breathes and Becca's ragged intakes of air from her place on the ground.

The door burst open and 7 mutants toppled into the room, ready for battle.

Wolverine was about to make the first move and attack the three mutants, who seemed to be in shock, head on, when Scott yelled at him.

"Stop!" Everyone froze, just looking back and forth between the new mutants and themselves. Kitty was a little confused at what she was seeing. Was it just her, or did that blue dude look a whole lot like Kurt? And the kid with the spikes was definitely Evan. Now that she thought about it, the robot did have similar features to Forge…

"Oh my God."

"What the hell?" Rogue and Evan exclaimed at the same time. It was silent then. The Xmen staring at their friends, their friends staring back at the Xmen. No one seemed to be able to put the pieces together until Kurt finally realized what was going on.

"You are mutants too!" His loud proclamation broke the silence, startling the defenseless blonde that lay bleeding on the floor. Forge immediately powered down, all of his robotic features disappearing into his skin, and picked her up once again.

"Can we do this later? We have to get her back to mom before she loses more blood." Evan and Kurt nodded, grouping around Forge and the young girl in his arms. She really couldn't have been more than 12, just as Jamie had been. Kurt grasped Evan's arm, loosely wrapped his tail around Becca's ankle, and put his other three digits on Forge's shoulder. He turned around to see the Xmen still staring at them, wide eyed.

"Meet us at our house." Kurt said, as if they were about to depart. Wolverine growled, taking a step toward the teenage mutants.

"You aren't taking her anywhere, bub." Kurt forced himself not to growl in response to Wolverine's threats, instead choosing to disappear in a cloud of sulfur and brimstone. Coughing, the Xmen rushed to where there friends had been previously standing, only to see that they were gone.

"Well the Professor was right about one thing." Jean said, causing everyone to turn and look at her with curiosity once the smoke had cleared. "One of them is a teleporter."

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All of the team was now stuffed inside the X van, taking the short distance ride to their friends home. Everyone had been pretty silent, except for Bobby, who kept going on and on about how amazing this was or how cool their powers were. Everyone was about ready to crack him over the head with a bat, though they doubted the Professor would allow that sort of thing. Wolverine was driving, the Professor occupied the passenger's seat, and everyone else was attempting to share the back three seats. In case you couldn't do the math, six people for three seats didn't cut it. It didn't help that Rogue couldn't be touched either, though it gave her the advantage of having a seat to herself.

"So, how exactly were we unaware that one of our friends was a robot, another grew spikes, and one was blue? That seems like a pretty stupid thing to miss." Kitty asked, attempting to breathe while being sandwiched in between Bobby and the door.

"Maybe we're not as observant as we give ourselves credit for." Kyle mumbled under his breath, only able to be heard by Wolverine who chose to ignore his comment.

"Well, Scott and I suspected that Kurt was a mutant, but we never got to do his test. Evan had checked out when I did a mental sweep, but uh, who knows?" Jean said, making everyone stare at her.

"You and Scott knew that Kurt was a mutant, and you didn't tell us? How did you know?" Rogue asked angrily, narrowing her eyes in accusation at the two older mutants.

"I stopped him from having a fight with the Brotherhood the day that you touched me. Some of the stuff they said, and the way Kurt reacted, I just kind of guessed. But, the Professor told us not to tell anyone." Almost simultaneously, everyone turned their attention to the passenger's seat.

"I didn't want you to treat Kurt any different at school until we learned for certain whether or not he had the X gene." Everyone was silent then, just thinking about everything that was happening. It was a lot to process sometimes. Who would have guessed that the people they had been spending every day with, had more in common with them than they had originally thought? How had they missed the signs, when they themselves were also mutants? It seemed extremely unbelievable, and Kitty guessed that they probably wouldn't believe it if they hadn't of seen it with their own eyes.

"We're here." Wolverine said gruffly, pulling up to the house that Rogue had been to many times in her tutoring of Kurt. They all exited the car, silently walking up the walkway single file and then they just stood there. Were they supposed to ring the doorbell?

"_Forge, someone's at the door!_" Wolverine could hear Kurt call from inside the house to his brother.

"_But I don't want to get the door, why don't you get it?"_ there was a moment of silence before Forge sighed. "_Fine fine, but you better get down before they come it! Mom will have a cow!"_ His voice grew louder and louder as he approached the other side of the door.

"Hey guys! C'mon in." He opened the door wide, with an even wider smile, and gestured for them to enter the home. Rogue was the first one to move off the front porch, obviously the only one that was brave enough to go first. Wolverine and the Professor followed after her, leaving the rest of the team to fight to get through the narrow doorway.

"Mom! Our friends are here!" Forge hollered up the stairs as they passed. There was a muffled 'I'll be down in a minute' from somewhere on the second level, but no one heard it as they had all continued on into the living room.

Once the large group entered the room, the first thing any of them noticed was the blue fuzzy creature hanging by its tail from the chandelier reading a book. It didn't seem to notice their presence until Forge began speaking.

"Kurt!" Startled, Kurt released his grip on the chandelier and fell to the ground with a 'THUMP'. Sitting up straight, Kurt glared at his brother and rubbed the back of his head. A small giggle from the couch made everyone aware that a small boy was lying there, attempting to watch cartoons around Kurt.

"Give a guy some varning! Guten Tag mein friends." He said, smiling, as he walked toward the large group occupying the doorway. Kitty couldn't stop staring at him. He was scary, with his blue demonic appearance and fangs, and yet, Kitty thought he was more handsome than before. She had been wrong before; _this is the only way he could have gotten more perfect_.

"Kurt, what happened to you're…" Scott trailed off, looking for the right words to say. Kurt looked like he just remembered something, and snapped his fingers together. It was then that Kitty took notice that he only had three fingers on his hands.

"Be back in a Bamf!" He said, not giving anyone a chance to wonder what he was talking about before he disappeared in a puff of brimstone. Kitty stared at the space her friend had just occupied and wondered what if was like to travel through space like that. It seemed almost incomprehensible to her. Then again, she was the one that could move though solid objects.

Kurt suddenly reappeared, now looking like he normally did when they were at school.

"Forge made me zis vatch zat um, does somezing…" he looked to his brother, not even attempting to explain what the watch did. All he knew was that it was the thing that made it possible for him to live a normal life.

"It's just a watch that projects a hologram over Kurt's entire body, making it so he appears normal. I invented it so he would be able to come to school with Evan and I. though, if you were to touch him, you would still feel his fur." Forge explained, walking up to his brother and removing the watch and bringing it over to the group so they could see for themselves. Kurt turned back into his original form the second the device was removed, but it didn't seem as though he minded. He just plopped down onto the couch, giving Jamie a mischievous grin.

"Vant to go drop vater balloons on Evan from ze top of a tree?" Jamie seemed to think about it, looking over at the large group in the mouth of the living room who were all listening to Forge explain the holowatch with words to big for him to understand.

"But isn't he working on our fort? Plus, Mom said I'm not allowed to get up." Kurt just shook his head at Jamie and laughed. This boy needed some serious corrupting.

"Exactly, ve must hit him vhen he least expects it. I'll go grab ze balloons, and you-"

"Don't even think about it, mister. " Ororo interrupted, giving Kurt a long look. He sighed, pouting up at his mother for ruining his plans. Jamie giggled, just glad that he wasn't the one getting in trouble. It _had_ been all Kurt's idea, after all.

"Ruin all the fun." Kurt mumbled under his breath, his tail falling slightly.

"Speaking of Evan, why don't you call him in so he can be a proper host to our guests? Please, everyone, grab a seat anywhere you see." Kurt bamfed, leaving behind a not so pleasant smell, and opened up the couch for people to sit. Jamie tried to sit up to make more room and winced, falling back against and couch in pain.

"Hun, you need to keep still or it won't ever get better. Forge; bring him back up to his room so he can rest." Forge leapt forward and scooped Jamie up without difficulty, already half way up the stairs before Jamie could protest about being locked up while their friends were here. He had wanted to meet the people that his brothers talked about all the time, and now he was being sent to his room to rest. Jamie crossed his arms over his chest and pouted at the floor during the whole trip.

"I'm Ororo, the boy's mom, it's so nice to meet you all. We don't usually find large groups of mutants in towns we go to; the boys are really excited." She shook the Professor's hand cheerfully, moving on next to Logan.

"Yes, well, my students seemed just as thrilled. I'm Charles Xavier, I run a school for mutants in the mansion up on the hill."

"Logan." Wolverine said roughly, not even giving her an attempted smile. Ororo didn't seem too intimidated, shaking his hand firmly and shooting a friendly smile his way. Suddenly, Kurt reappeared on the chandelier, looking a little bit _too_ innocent. Milliseconds later, Evan entered the house, soaked from head to toe. Ororo sighed, shaking her head and simply pointing in the direction of the stairs for Evan to go get himself dressed. Kurt flipped upside down, sticking his tongue out at Evan's retreating form.

"I'm sorry for Kurt; there really is no controlling that boy. Kids, go play outside. Mr. Xavier, Logan, Please, sit." Ororo was practically shoving them toward the couch, almost as if they were going to run away. The kids dejectedly left the room to go do whatever it was that kids did these days.

"Your children are very talented." The Professor commented as he wheeled up to a position next to the couch. Logan threw himself onto the couch without much thought, earning a glare from Ororo as the furniture creaked under his weight.

"Yes, I like to think they are. They cost me a lot of trouble though." She said, smiling at all the things her sons had done in the past; the most recent being that robot that Kurt and Forge had created a couple weeks ago. That horrible thing had almost destroyed her house!

"They're teenage boys, what do you expect?" Logan said gruffly, staring hard out the window to where the kids were joking around outside.

"True, though I think it might have been mostly because of their abilities. I don't know how many new chandeliers I have put up since we moved in here, but Kurt just loves to be up on those things. He will do anything on them, sleep, eat, read, it's almost as if he lives up there." She shook her head just thinking about it, glancing up at the lighting fixture. "And don't get me started on Forge. It seems like every other day a toaster had succumbed to his robotic urges. If I come home to see another robot destroying my house, I might snap." She laughed and ran a hand through her hair, looking out on her family interacting with the first normal mutants they had ever met. Certainly the ones they had met before didn't count. Ororo was pretty sure that Master couldn't even be considered a human, with all the horrible things he had done. But those were thoughts for a different time; right now she just needed to move on and focus of restarting her life.

"They do sound like wonderful children." Ororo didn't miss the strange look that the Professor was giving her, but chose to ignore it.

"Tell me," the Professor started, intertwining his hands on his lap. "Has Kurt always had his physical mutation?" Ororo tensed; this wasn't something she liked to talk about. Kurt had already had a hard enough life, some things so awful that even she didn't know them. He had nightmares sparingly, made him scream and thrash around, wildly speaking in German, but he never would admit what they were. This being said, Kurt's appearance had always been a sore spot.

"As far as I know, yes. I have only known him since he was about 15, so I really have no way of knowing. That would be a good question for him." The Professor nodded his head in understanding, his eyes shifting as he watched Evan shooting spikes from his arms and into the tree so they could climb up.

"I see. Ororo, I guess that Rebecca is upstairs resting?" The Professor need not ask, hearing her thoughts from upstairs, but he wanted to know how she was healing.

"Yes, she bled out quite a bit, but she seems to be getting better. I suspect that her healing time will be much like Jamie's, seeing as he had the same injuries as her." The Professor nodded, smiling slightly as he saw the boy in question lying on the ground outside and watching the other kids mess around.

"And him? How is he recuperating?" Ororo sighed, looking with narrowed eyes Jamie's figure.

"He's doing well, but he doesn't like stay in bed. I send him up there to rest and one of the boys will sneak in and steal him away to do god know what. Hopefully, Becca won't be as opposed to staying on bed rest." Jamie looked up at the window, just to see Ororo staring at him. The adults laughed as Jamie scrambled to get where the motherly figure couldn't see him.

"I guess I can wait awhile before sending him back to bed." Storm mused as she seemed to go off to another world in her mind. Logan cleared his throat, making the first noise since he sat on the couch, and sat up straighter so his elbows rested on his knees.

"You got any beer?" Ororo laughed, raising an eyebrow at Wolverine.

"With those loons in the house? I don't think so. The last thing I need is _drunk_ mutant teenage boys." They laughed together, relaxing back into their seats and enjoying the small talk that adults loved to participate in. sitting there, watching the children running wild outside, it was almost as if they were normal people. Almost as if they weren't different and had to hide who they really were. That was, until a spike flew through the window, landing in the wall across from them. The adults all turned, somewhat in slow motion, and were met with all 9 innocent faces.

"It wasn't me!"


End file.
